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. Väyr ...

, its president and only MP, after he was ousted from his previous party, Citizens' Party.

History

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 Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

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 ...

, 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 peop ...

, they decided to run. Among the candidates are Väyrynen and businessman .

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Finland, Politics 2018 establishments in Finland Nordic agrarian parties Political parties established in 2018 Registered political parties in Finland Political schisms

History

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

See also

References

External links