The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a

political party 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 exis ...

aiming to represent the interests of the minority

Swedish-speaking population of Finland The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names; fi, suomenruotsalainen) can be used as an attribute., group=Note—see below; sv, finlandssvenskar; fi, suomenruotsalaiset) is a linguistic minority in Finl ...

. The party is currently participating in the government of Sanna Marin, holding the positions of

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality. An ethnic catch-all party, the party's main election issue has been since its inception the Swedish-speaking Finns' right to their own language and to maintain the position of the Swedish language in

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 ...

. Ideologically, it is

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, and it sits at the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

of the political spectrum, and identifies as

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''. Politi ...

. The party was in governmental position 1979–2015 with one or two seats in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

and collaborated with the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

as well as the

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 ...

parties 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 ...

. The fact that both the Finnish centre-right and centre-left have needed the support from the party has meant that they have been able to affect

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 ...

on a larger scale than the party's actual size would suggest. The position of the Swedish language as one of two

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

s in Finland and the Swedish-speaking minority's right to the Swedish culture are two of the results of the party's influence in Finnish politics. The party is a member of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Renew Europe. The youth organisation of the party is called Svensk Ungdom (''"Swedish Youth"'').

History and electorate

Svenska folkpartiet election poster 1907

The Swedish Party (1870–1906), a parliamentary

elite party An elite party is a political party consisting of members of the societal elite, particularly members of parliament, who agree to co-operate politically in the spirit of principles and goals. Elite parties form as groupings of elite members parti ...

based on members in the

Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland ( Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Ri ...

, is the historical predecessor of the Swedish People's Party of Finland. It was a part of the Svecoman movement and its main policy was opposition of the

Fennoman The Fennoman movement or Fennomania was a Finnish nationalist movement in the 19th-century Grand Duchy of Finland, built on the work of the ''fennophile'' interests of the 18th and early-19th centuries. History After the Crimean War, Fennoma ...

movement. Unlike Fennomans who were largely

on other matters than the language question, the Svecoman were

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. Axel Lille and Axel Olof Freudenthal are often considered as some of the main "founding fathers" of the movement. Most members of the Liberal Party joined the Swedish Party in the 1880s, after the Liberals ceased to exist as a distinct party. The Swedish People's Party of Finland was founded in the 1906 party congress of the Swedish Party, making it one of the oldest parties in Finland. The first leader of Swedish People's Party was Axel Lille. The current leader of the party is

Anna-Maja Henriksson Anna-Maja Kristina Henriksson (née Forss; born 7 January 1964) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish politician. She has served as Finland's Minister of Justice, in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet and Alexander Stubb's cabinet from 2011 to 2015, Antti Rinn ...

. In the

the representative for

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

is usually included in SFP's parliamentary group, regardless of his/her party affiliation. This is because the political parties in Åland have no counterparts in

Mainland Finland Mainland Finland ( fi, Manner-Suomi, sv, Fasta Finland) is a term used in statistics and in other contexts to describe the continental parts of Finland, an area which excludes Åland. In legal contexts, the relation between the mainland and Åland ...

, but the SFP's interests have much in common with those of Åland as far as the Swedish language is concerned. The party receives its main electoral support from the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

speaking minority, which makes up about 5.5% of Finland's population. During its history, the party has suffered slow but steady decline in adherence, following the decline of the percentage of Swedish-speaking population: in 1907 it got 12% of national votes, after World War II 7% and in the 2011 parliamentary election 4.3% (9 MPs). In municipal elections, it holds large majorities in municipalities with a Swedish-speaking majority. Despite its position as one of the minor political parties in the Finnish parliament it has frequently been one of the partners forming the governing

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 ...

s. Since 1956, the year when

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 ...

was elected President, the party has been nearly continuously in the government. It has been part of all coalitions with the significant exception of Paasio's first cabinet (1966–68), which included only socialists (

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SDP), the split SDP faction

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 ...

and

Finnish People's Democratic League Finnish People's Democratic League ( fi, Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto, SKDL; sv, Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk, DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic P ...

) and the Centre Party. Short periods of rule by single-party minority governments, Miettunen cabinet (1961–62, Centre) and Paasio's second government (1972, SDP) and of nonpartisan

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

s have also interrupted its stay in the government. For this reason, SFP is often criticized for being a single-issue party that allegedly accepts nearly all other policies as long as its own vital interest, the status of the Swedish language is maintained. However, although Vanhanen's first cabinet made Swedish a voluntary subject in the upper secondary school's matriculation exam, SFP remained in the government. In contrast, the Greens left the previous government after a new nuclear power plant was decided in 2002. The SFP's long continuous participation in the Finnish cabinets came to an end in following the 2015 parliamentary election when it was left out 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 ...

. In June 2019, the SFP returned to government with two ministerial positions in 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 ...

, the Minister of Justice and the Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality. Recently the SFP has emphasized the liberal part of its programme, attempting to woo voters outside its traditional Swedish-speaking electorate. In 2010, the party added the word ''Suomen'' ("of Finland") to its official Finnish name.

Election results

Parliament of Finland

ImageSize = width:1100 height:240 PlotArea = width:1000 height:160 left:60 bottom:50 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors= id:SB value:rgb(0.055,0.533,0.827) PlotData= bar:% color:SB width:20 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1907 from:start till:12.60 text:12,6 bar:1908 from:start till:12.74 text:12,7 bar:1909 from:start till:12.31 text:12,3 bar:1910 from:start till:13.53 text:13,5 bar:1911 from:start till:13.31 text:13,3 bar:1913 from:start till:13.07 text:13,1 bar:1916 from:start till:11.76 text:11,8 bar:1917 from:start till:10.90 text:10,9 bar:1919 from:start till:12.13 text:12,1 bar:1922 from:start till:12.41 text:12,4 bar:1924 from:start till:12.03 text:12,0 bar:1927 from:start till:12.20 text:12,2 bar:1929 from:start till:11.45 text:11,5 bar:1930 from:start till:10.03 text:10,0 bar:1933 from:start till:10.42 text:10,4 bar:1936 from:start till:10.36 text:10,4 bar:1939 from:start till:9.61 text:9,6 bar:1945 from:start till:7.90 text:7,9 bar:1948 from:start till:7.34 text:7,3 bar:1951 from:start till:7.20 text:7,2 bar:1954 from:start till:6.76 text:6,8 bar:1958 from:start till:6.50 text:6,5 bar:1962 from:start till:6.11 text:6,1 bar:1966 from:start till:5.69 text:5,7 bar:1970 from:start till:5.34 text:5,3 bar:1972 from:start till:5.06 text:5,1 bar:1975 from:start till:4.66 text:4,7 bar:1979 from:start till:4.23 text:4,2 bar:1983 from:start till:4.61 text:4,6 bar:1987 from:start till:5.30 text:5,3 bar:1991 from:start till:5.48 text:5,5 bar:1995 from:start till:5.14 text:5,1 bar:1999 from:start till:5.12 text:5,1 bar:2003 from:start till:4.61 text:4,6 bar:2007 from:start till:4.57 text:4,6 bar:2011 from:start till:4.28 text:4,3 bar:2015 from:start till:4.87 text:4,9 bar:2019 from:start till:4.5 text:4,5

European Parliament

Presidential elections

Political positions

The Swedish language is one of the two

s of Finland. The SFP has as its main raison d'être the protection and strengthening of the position of the Swedish language in Finland. The Swedish People's Party of Finland has the most eclectic profile of any of the political parties in Finland, its members and supporters including (chiefly): * fishermen and farmers from the Swedish-speaking coastal areas. * small-town dwellers from the adjacent Swedish-speaking and bi-lingual towns. * a significant part of the

* left-leaning middle-class people. * liberals in general, who currently have no representation of their own in the Finnish parliament, and who as such benefit from the predominantly liberal values of the SFP. Although the SFP represents a small minority of Finland, Swedish mother tongue per se is not much of a political handicap. Several times Swedish speaking presidential candidates have gathered considerable support, although not necessarily as candidates for the Swedish People's Party of Finland: * In 1944 the Swedish-Finnish Carl G. E. Mannerheim a hero of Finnish independence became Finlands 6th president. * In 1956 the Swedish-speaking

Social Democrat 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 soc ...

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 ...

got one elector's vote less than needed to be elected, and the Agrarian

was elected. * In 1994 the SFP's candidate

Elisabeth Rehn Märta Elisabeth Rehn (; born 6 April 1935) is a Finnish former politician and diplomat. She served as the Minister of Defence of Finland during 1990 to 1995 and as an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations during 1998 to 1999. She was al ...

was defeated by the Social Democrat candidate

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahtisa ...

, also with a narrow margin (53.9% to 46.1%). SFP supports Finnish NATO membership and envisions that Finland could become a full NATO member by 2025.

List of party leaders

* Axel Lille (1906–1917) * Eric von Rettig (1917–1934) * Ernst von Born (1934–1945) *

Ralf Törngren Ralf Johan Gustaf Törngren (1 March 1899 – 16 May 1961) was a Finnish politician, born in Oulu. He was the party leader of the Swedish People's Party (1945–1955), a member of the Finnish parliament and the Prime Minister of Finland 5 May ...

(1945–1955) * Ernst von Born (1955–1956) *

Lars Erik Taxell Lars Erik Taxell (6 April 1913 – 7 October 2013), was a Finnish legal scholar and politician. He was the leader of the Swedish People's Party of Finland in 1956–1966. He was also the Rector of the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, ...

(1956–1966) *

Jan-Magnus Jansson Jan-Magnus Jansson (24 January 1922 – 29 November 2003) was a Finnish politician, a member of the Swedish People's Party. Jansson studied at Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors and then at the University of Helsinki. Jansson was a Professor of P ...

(1966–1973) *

Kristian Gestrin Kristian Gestrin (1929–1990) was a Finnish judge and politician who served in several cabinet posts in the 1970s. He was a long-term member of the Finnish Parliament. He also headed the Swedish People's Party of Finland in the period 1973–19 ...

(1973–1974) *

Carl Olof Tallgren Carl Olof Tallgren (born 28 January 1927) is a Finnish politician who served as the minister of finance between 1970 and 1971. He is one of the former heads of the Swedish People's Party of Finland. Early life and education Tallgren was born in ...

(1974–1977) *

Pär Stenbäck Pär Stenbäck (born 12 August 1941 in Porvoo) is a Finnish politician and debater. Stenbäck was elected to the Finnish parliament at the age of 28 and functioned as the party chairman for the Swedish People's Party 1977–1985. He was Minister ...

(1977–1985) *

Christoffer Taxell Lars Evald Christoffer Taxell (born July 14, 1948, in Turku, Finland) is a Finland Swedish politician, business leader and former chancellor of Åbo Akademi University. He is known in Finland as an influential decision-maker in Finland Swedis ...

(1985–1990) *

Ole Norrback Johan Ole Norrback (born 18 March 1941) is a Finland-Swedish politician and diplomat. Norrback was born in Övermark. He graduated as a primary school teacher in 1965 and was the ombudsman for the Sfp, Swedish People's Party in Ostrobothnia be ...

(1990–1998) * Jan-Erik Enestam (1998–2006) * Stefan Wallin (2006–2012) *

Carl Haglund Carl Christoffer ”Calle” Haglund (born 29 March 1979 in Espoo) is the CEO of Veritas, a Finnish Pension insurance company, and a former Finnish politician, former chairman of the Swedish People's Party and the former Minister of Defence. He w ...

(2012–2016) *

(2016–)

References

External links

Website of the Swedish People's Party of Finland
{{Authority control Swedish People's Party of Finland 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire