The Left Alliance ( , Vas; , VF) is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political party in Finland. The Left Alliance was founded in 1990 as the chief successor of the left-wing

Finnish People's Democratic League Finnish People's Democratic League (, SKDL; , DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due ...

(SKDL). Although not as electorally successful as the SKDL, it has achieved some success, typically receiving around eight to ten percent of the vote in parliamentary elections. It has participated in five cabinets, most recently in the Marin Cabinet from

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. It is

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, specifically democratically socialist, and it supports the principles of

eco-socialism Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism, socialist ecology, ecological materialism, or revolutionary ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. E ...

. The Left Alliance is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance. The party's newspaper is the monthly '' Kansan Uutiset''. It had two ministerial positions in the Marin cabinet, Li Andersson as

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

and Hanna Sarkkinen as Minister of Social Affairs and Health. It is also a part of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet, a pan-European party that supports an alternative to capitalism.

History

The Left Alliance was founded by the

(SKDL), the majority of members of the waning

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) 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 the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

(SKP) and the Finnish Women's Democratic League (SNDL). It was later joined by the communist Democratic Alternative. The founding meeting was held in April 1990 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, following the publishing of the ''April Declaration'', which stated the party's ideals. The party's history has been characterised via internal disputes and bickering, as it was formed by people with very different views on society. There have been several defections from the Left Alliance to the

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 Form ...

(SDP) and the

. In 2005, the party's former secretary and Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions's assistant head Matti Viialainen formed a group to promote a merger between the two largest Finnish left-wing political parties, the Left Alliance and the SDP. This caused an outrage within the Left Alliance, and Viialainen was condemned for wanting to break up the party. Viialainen subsequently left the party and ran for parliament on the SDP's ticket in 2007. In 2006, the party's leader Suvi-Anne Siimes announced her resignation from the post and the party as a result of long-standing feuds with the leftist section of the party. On 13 May 2006, Martti Korhonen was elected as the new party leader. He was followed by Paavo Arhinmäki in June 2009, following the party's bad performance in the 2009 EU parliamentary election, in which the party lost its only seat. In the 2011 election, the party won 14 seats and became a partner in the six-party "rainbow" cabinet. The decision to join the government created a split in the party, leading to the expulsion of two MPs from the parliamentary group. In 2014, the Left Alliance left the cabinet over a dispute on a package of spending cuts and tax hikes. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

European Parliament election, the party regained their lost seat. In the 2015 parliamentary election, the party received 211,615 votes, 7.1% of the total, and won 12 seats in the parliament. In April 2016, Arhinmäki announced that he wouldn't seek another term as the party leader. On 11 June 2016, Arhinmäki was succeeded by Li Andersson. Under the leadership of Andersson, the party gained support in the 2017 municipal elections and the 2019 parliamentary election, in the latter, the party increased its representation in the parliament for the first time since 1995. In the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the Left Alliance suffered its worst defeat ever, losing five seats, reducing the party to 11 MPs. However, in the next year's European Parliament elections, the Left Alliance finished a surprising second, ahead of the Social Democrats, and elected three

MEPs A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Comm ...

, including party leader Li Andersson. Prior to the election, polls had shown the party to be in fourth place. Andersson herself received the most votes of any Finnish politician in European election history. On 19 October 2024, Andersson was succeeded as party leader by Minja Koskela. In the 2025 Finnish county election, the Left Alliance came in third nationwide. In the

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

held on the same day, the party placed fourth. It had higher support in both elections when compared to the results of the previous corresponding elections. The party notably surpassed the

Finns Party The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

in support in both elections.

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

reported that the results may signify an ideological shift to the left.

Ideology and policies

Members of the Left Alliance at Helsinki Pride in 2016

According to the Left Alliance's party programme, adopted by the 5th Party Congress on 16 June 2007, the fundamental values of the Left Alliance are

equality Equality generally refers to the fact of being equal, of having the same value. In specific contexts, equality may refer to: Society * Egalitarianism, a trend of thought that favors equality for all people ** Political egalitarianism, in which ...

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

, and

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. The party believes that globally, democracy must be strengthened, and that democracy should be stronger than the power of

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, challenging global

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. Important values also include global

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, stopping political polarisation in Finland, freedom and the

right to work The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or to engage in productive employment, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work, enshrined in the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Ri ...

, and

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

. The party is for equality in all its forms and identifies strongly as

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and delibera ...

and is in support of

economic democracy Economic democracy (sometimes called a democratic economy) is a socioeconomic philosophy that proposes to shift ownership and decision-making power from corporate shareholders and corporate managers (such as a board of directors) to a larger ...

. The party has been defined from the outside as

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. The party supports introducing a

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

and prioritizes supporting the weakest members of society. The Left Alliance wants the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to be more socially just. The party endorses the

European Green Deal The European Green Deal, approved in 2020, is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making the European Union (EU) climate neutral in 2050. The plan is to review each existing law on its climate meri ...

via changing the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

's financial sector's

quantitative easing Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action where a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary polic ...

stimulus into a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

stimulus to mitigate

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and create green-collar jobs. The party has traditionally been one of the staunch opponents of a Finnish NATO membership accession. After Finland considered an accession bid to NATO in May 2022, the party was in doubt whether to officially support an eventual NATO membership but assured that it would stay in the Marin cabinet in the case it made one. During its annual party congress in June 2022, the Left Alliance adapted its party program and now only demands an eventual NATO membership to remain defensive, with no permanent NATO military bases or

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s within the country. It also demanded the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK) to be taken off the

's list of terrorist organisations. The party wants Finland to recognise

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and stop Finland's arms trade with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Organization

Logos

File:Left Alliance 1996.gif, Logo of the Left Alliance in 1996. File:Vasemmistoliitto Logo Alt.svg, Former logo of the Left Alliance. File:Vasemmistoliitto Logo.svg, Logo of the Left Alliance from 2010–2018. File:Vasemmistoliitto Logo 2018.svg, Logo of the Left Alliance since 2018.

Chairpersons

* Claes Andersson (1990–1998) * Suvi-Anne Siimes (1998–2006) * Martti Korhonen (2006–2009) * Paavo Arhinmäki (2009–2016) * Li Andersson (2016–2024) * Minja Koskela (2024–present)

Election results

Parliamentary elections

ImageSize = width:350 height:240 Colors= id:SB value:rgb(0.941,0.039,0.392) PlotArea = width:250 height:160 left:30 bottom:30 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:SB width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1991 from:start till:10.08 text:10.1 bar:1995 from:start till:11.16 text:11.2 bar:1999 from:start till:10.88 text:10.9 bar:2003 from:start till:9.93 text:9.9 bar:2007 from:start till:8.82 text:8.8 bar:2011 from:start till:8.15 text:8.1 bar:2015 from:start till:7.14 text:7.1 bar:2019 from:start till:8.20 text:8.2 bar:2023 from:start till:7.06 text:7.1

Municipal elections

European Parliament

Presidential elections

Elected members of parliament

The following politicians were elected to the Finnish Parliament in the April 2023 parliamentary election. * Li Andersson * Anna Kontula * Mai Kivelä * Aino-Kaisa Pekonen * Hanna Sarkkinen * Veronika Honkasalo * Jussi Saramo *

Merja Kyllönen Merja Kyllönen (born 25 January 1977) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Left Alliance, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL. She was the Minister of Tran ...

* Timo Furuholm * Minja Koskela * Laura Meriluoto

References

External links

* (in Finnish)
Website in English
{{Authority control 1990 establishments in Finland Political parties established in 1990 Political parties supporting universal basic income Parties represented in the European Parliament Registered political parties in Finland Left-wing parties in Europe Democratic socialist parties in Europe Socialism in Finland Socialist parties in Finland