The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly known in Finnish as Demarit ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna), is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is currently the largest party in the

Parliament of Finland 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 ...

with 40 seats. Founded in 1899 as the Finnish Labour Party ( fi, link=no, Suomen työväenpuolue; sv, link=no, Finska arbetarpartiet), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with the

Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK ( fi, Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö; sv, Finlands Fackförbunds Centralorganisation, FFC) is the largest trade union confederation in Finland. Its ...

. It is also a member of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Social ...

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

and

SAMAK fi, Työväenliikkeen pohjoismainen yhteistyökomitea da, Arbejderbevægelsens nordiske samarbejdskommitté no, Arbeiderbevegelsens nordiske samarbeidskomité , logo = SAMAK logo.png , colorcode = , abbreviation = SAMAK ...

. Following the resignation of

Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020. Biography A lawyer by profession, ...

in December 2019,

Sanna Marin Sanna Mirella Marin (; born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Finland since 2019. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), she has been a Parliament of Finland, Member of Pa ...

became the country's 76th

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. SDP formed a new

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

on the basis of its predecessor, in effect continuing cooperation with the Centre Party, the

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

, the Left Alliance and the

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

. Seven of the government's nineteen ministers are SDP members.

History

The SDP was founded as the Finnish Labour Party in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. The name was changed to the present form in 1903. The SDP was closely associated with the

Finnish Trade Union Federation Finnish Trade Union Federation ( fi, Suomen Ammattijärjestö, SAJ, sv, Finlands Landsorganisation, FLO) was the first central organisation of trade unions in Finland, established in 1907. It was a part of the Social Democratic Party of Finland ...

(SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party. The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement until

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

was introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the 1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster1917 Finnish parliamentary election after independence from Russia and started a rebellion that escalated into the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

in 1918. SDP members declared Finland a

socialist republic Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ec ...

, but they were defeated by the forces of the White Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of its

political legitimacy In political science, legitimacy is the right and acceptance of an authority, usually a governing law or a regime. Whereas ''authority'' denotes a specific position in an established government, the term ''legitimacy'' denotes a system of gover ...

and respectability in the eyes of the

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the

1919 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 March 1919.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 The Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest in Parliament with 80 of the 200 seat ...

, the party, reorganised by

Väinö Tanner Väinö Alfred Tanner (; 12 March 1881 – 19 April 1966; surname until 1895 ''Thomasson'') was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minister ...

, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by ...

(SKP) in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organizations, leading to the support of the Finnish

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

being divided between the SDP and the SKP. It became the life's work of

to re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from its Nordic sister parties, namely the Danish

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...

and the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

. President

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad (; 15 December 1861 – 29 February 1944) was the third president of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, he played a major role in the ...

's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation until

Kyösti Kallio Kyösti Kallio (; 10 April 1873 – 19 December 1940) was a Finnish politician of the Agrarian League who served as the fourth president of Finland from 1937–1940; his presidency included leading the country through the Winter War. He was t ...

was elected President in 1937. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

of 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of the Labour and Socialist International from 1923 to 1940. During the first few months of the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

(1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labor unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and the Agrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and other

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

political parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

parties. Because of the SDP's

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

activities, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

supported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organizations that bought luxury goods such as

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-war

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

served to inflate prices. In the 1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidate

Karl-August Fagerholm Karl-August Fagerholm (31 December 1901, in Siuntio – 22 May 1984, in Helsinki) was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland (1948–50, 1956–57, and 1958–59). Fagerholm became one of the leading politicia ...

lost by only one electoral vote to

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

. Fagerholm would act as Prime Minister in the

Fagerholm I Cabinet Fagerholm's first cabinet was the 32nd government of Finland, which lasted from 29 August 1948 to 17 March 1950. It was a minority government headed by Social Democratic Prime Minister Karl-August Fagerholm. Fagerholm’s first cabinet was the fi ...

(1956–1957) and the

Fagerholm II Cabinet Karl-August Fagerholm's second cabinet was the 40th government of Republic of Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sw ...

(1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election of

as party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed the

Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders ( fi, Työväen ja Pienviljelijäin Sosialidemokraattinen Liitto, TPSL) was a political party in Finland. TPSL originated as a fraction of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, headed by Emi ...

(TPSL) around the former SDP chairman

Emil Skog Emil Albert Skog (30 June 1897, Helsingin maalaiskunta – 20 September 1981, Helsinki) was a Finnish telephone worker, civil servant and politician. During the Finnish Civil War, Skog fought at the Battle of Tampere as an artilleryman on the Red ...

. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the

1970 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 15 and 16 March 1970. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p606 Background Mauno Koivisto had replaced Rafael Paasio as leader of the Social Democratic Party and ...

, the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with the

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

- agrarian Centre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and the

(NCP). The 1995 Finnish parliamentary election saw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results since

. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leader

Paavo Lipponen Paavo Tapio Lipponen (; born 23 April 1941) is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as Speaker of t ...

headed two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted a

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

stance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the 2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became the

Speaker of Parliament The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

and the Centre Party leader

Anneli Jäätteenmäki Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki (born 11 February 1955) is a Finnish politician who was the first female Prime Minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) ...

became the new

, leading a

coalition cabinet A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

that included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to the Iraq leak and was replaced by

Matti Vanhanen Matti Taneli Vanhanen (; born 4 November 1955) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party and President of the European Council in 2006. In his earlier career, h ...

, another Centre Party representative, who commanded the

Vanhanen I Cabinet Matti Vanhanen's first cabinet was the 69th government of Finland. The cabinet was in office from 24 July 2003 to 19 April 2007, and its prime minister was Matti Vanhanen. The government was composed of a coalition formed by the Centre Party, th ...

Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin 2019 (cropped)

Eduskuntavaalit 2011 - Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue

In the 2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed a

consisting of the

, the NCP and the

Swedish People's Party of Finland The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland ...

(SFP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leader

Eero Heinäluoma Eero Olavi Heinäluoma (born 4 July 1955 in Kokkola) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A former chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party, he was replaced in the party's leadership ...

did not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced by Jutta Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the 2008 Finnish municipal elections and the 2009 European Parliament election. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than the

Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

which came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, the

Katainen Cabinet The Katainen Cabinet (—June 24, 2014) was the 72nd cabinet of Finland, formed as a result of the 2011 post-parliamentary election negotiations between the Finnish parliamentary parties. Led by Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen of the National Coal ...

, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet's

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, with NCP chairman

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland fr ...

serving as Prime Minister. In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challenger

in a 257 to 243 vote. Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of the

Sipilä Cabinet The cabinet of Juha Sipilä was the 74th government of Finland, from 2015 to 2019. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2015 and formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 29 May 2015. From June 2017, the cabinet consis ...

on matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model. On 22 June 2016, Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35. In the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament. Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties, Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with the Centre Party, the Green League, the Left Alliance and the SFP. The negotiations were ultimately successful and the

Rinne Cabinet The cabinet of Antti Rinne was the 75th government of Finland. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2019 and was formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 6 June 2019. The cabinet consisted of a coalition formed by the ...

was formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019. On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Center Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland. He was followed in the position by

, who was appointed as Prime Minister on 10 December 2019.

Ideology

The SDP is a

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

party. It is supportive of joining

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, although up until the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, the party opposed joining

and instead preferred to remain in the

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...

. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, 91% of SDP candidates were opposed to NATO membership. The SDP is in favor of LGBT adoption rights, the construction of

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

s, the conservation of Swedish as one of Finland's two official languages and the increase of funding to public universities. The party is advocating for Finland to become oil-independent by 2030. The SDP has advocated for policies preventing foreigners from working in Finland. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, only the

had a higher share of candidates opposed to the easing of work-based immigration. The party opposed economic reforms both in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election and in the subsequent government program negotiations. The SDP maintains a close relationship with

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays them to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions. The SDP supports the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

Voter base

The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years. Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce.

Prominent Social Democrats

Leaders of the Social Democrats

Election results

Parliament of Finland

ImageSize = width:1100 height:240 PlotArea = width:1000 height:160 left:30 bottom:30 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:50 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors = id:SB value:rgb(0.88,0.10,0.19) legend:Sea_Battles PlotData = bar:% color:SB width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1907 from:start till:37.03 text:37.0 bar:1908 from:start till:38.40 text:38.4 bar:1909 from:start till:39.89 text:39.9 bar:1910 from:start till:40.04 text:40.0 bar:1911 from:start till:40.03 text:40.0 bar:1913 from:start till:43.11 text:43.1 bar:1916 from:start till:47.29 text:47.3 bar:1917 from:start till:44.79 text:44.8 bar:1919 from:start till:37.98 text:38.0 bar:1922 from:start till:25.06 text:25.1 bar:1924 from:start till:29.02 text:29.0 bar:1927 from:start till:28.30 text:28.3 bar:1929 from:start till:27.36 text:27.4 bar:1930 from:start till:34.16 text:34.2 bar:1933 from:start till:37.33 text:37.3 bar:1936 from:start till:38.59 text:38.6 bar:1939 from:start till:39.77 text:39.8 bar:1945 from:start till:25.08 text:25.1 bar:1948 from:start till:26.32 text:26.3 bar:1951 from:start till:26.52 text:26.5 bar:1954 from:start till:26.25 text:26.3 bar:1958 from:start till:23.12 text:23.1 bar:1962 from:start till:19.50 text:19.5 bar:1966 from:start till:27.23 text:27.2 bar:1970 from:start till:23.43 text:23.4 bar:1972 from:start till:25.78 text:25.8 bar:1975 from:start till:24.86 text:24.9 bar:1979 from:start till:23.89 text:23.9 bar:1983 from:start till:26.71 text:26.7 bar:1987 from:start till:24.14 text:24.1 bar:1991 from:start till:22.12 text:22.1 bar:1995 from:start till:28.25 text:28.3 bar:1999 from:start till:22.86 text:22.9 bar:2003 from:start till:24.47 text:24.5 bar:2007 from:start till:21.44 text:21.4 bar:2011 from:start till:19.16 text:19.2 bar:2015 from:start till:16.51 text:16.5 bar:2019 from:start till:17.7 text:17.7

Municipal

European Parliament

Presidential elections

Indirect

Direct

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Social Democratic Party Of Finland 1899 establishments in Finland Full member parties of the Socialist International Members of the Labour and Socialist International Centre-left parties in Europe Parties represented in the European Parliament Party of European Socialists member parties Political parties established in 1899 Progressive Alliance Registered political parties in Finland Second International Social democratic parties Social democratic parties in Europe