Seven Star Movement ( fi, Seitsemän tähden liike,
sv, Sjustjärnerörelsen) is a Finnish political party founded in 2018. The party was founded by
Paavo Väyrynen
Paavo Matti Väyrynen (born 2 September 1946) is a Finnish politician and former member of the Finnish Parliament who has represented the Seven Star Movement, the Citizen's Party and Centre Party. He is currently member of Centre Party. Väyryn ...
, its president and only MP, after he was ousted from his previous party,
Citizens' Party.
History
Paavo Väyrynen
Paavo Matti Väyrynen (born 2 September 1946) is a Finnish politician and former member of the Finnish Parliament who has represented the Seven Star Movement, the Citizen's Party and Centre Party. He is currently member of Centre Party. Väyryn ...
had successfully run for the
Finnish Parliament
The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...
in the
2015 Finnish parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 19 April 2015, with advance voting taking place from 8 to 14 April. The 200 members of the Parliament of Finland were elected with the proportional D'Hondt method.
There were 4,463,333 people entitl ...
, representing the
Centre Party. Väyrynen, however, chose to forfeit his seat in order to serve in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
that he had entered earlier. Väyrynen returned to the Finnish Parliament in June 2018, but defected from the Centre Party to the
Citizens' Party, which he had founded. The Citizens' Party was already engulfed in a power struggle at that time, which resulted in Väyrynen's ousting In late June, Väyrynen announced that he had founded the Seven Star Movement as a substitute for Citizens' Party, with which he remained in the parliament for a time. The name is inspired by the Italian
Five Star Movement
The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...
. The Seven Star Movement's goals are
political independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
,
non-alignment, and greater
immigration control
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
.
A trial court ruled in November 2018 that Väyrynen's ousting had been illegal. Despite the ruling, the legal struggle convinced Väyrynen to go forward with his Seven Star Movement rather than the Citizens' Party. Later that month, Väyrynen announced that he had officially aligned himself with the , and therefore became their first MP.
[ Väyrynen is the president of the party. The secretary is Seppo Hauta-aho, Väyrynen's former campaign aide. The party is based in ]Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
.
The movement gathered 5,000 by December 2018 and was admitted to the on 21 December 2018. The party took part in the 2019 parliamentary election, but failed to get a single seat in the parliament. After the election, Väyrynen wrote in his blog that the party would continue its operations. Although initially skeptical about the party taking part in the 2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
, they decided to run. Among the candidates are Väyrynen and businessman .
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
See also
* Politics of Finland
The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of ...
* List of political parties in Finland
This article is a list of political parties in Finland, which includes Finland's national-level political parties and excludes local and provincial parties (such as the parties of Åland). A party is defined as a political association whose exi ...
* Elections in Finland
There are four types of elections in Finland. Each Finnish citizen at least 18 years of age has the right to vote in each of the elections, which decide the following: the president, the parliament, the MEPs, and the municipal and city counci ...
References
External links
*
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{{Portal bar, Finland, Politics
2018 establishments in Finland
Nordic agrarian parties
Political parties established in 2018
Registered political parties in Finland
Political schisms