4.4.1 Finland: The political parties
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This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
4.4.1 Finland: The political parties
The Centre (Keskusta, abbr. Kesk) was called Agrarian League
until 1965 and still derives its main support from rural areas
covering most of Finland. Not nearly all the voters have
anything to do with farming, but loyalty to the Centre is
almost a family value in the provinces, particularly the two
northern ones (Oulu and Lapland). The higher voting percentage
of the rural areas is an additional asset. The party has a
strong anti-EU wing, which has close ties with Vapaan Suomen
Liitto (Union of Free Finland), whose sole issue is to
terminate the EU membership. Esko Aho has been chairman of the
Centre since 1990 and Prime Minister since 1991. Other main
politicians include the controversial Paavo Väyrynen, Seppo
Kääriäinen, Olli Rehn, Tytti Isohookana-Asunmaa, Anneli
Jäätteenmäki. The chairman of VSL is the noted troublemaker
Ilkka Hakalehto.
The Social Democrats (SDP) are strongest in Southern industrial
towns, also sharing much of the middle-class and public
employee vote. Party chairman Paavo Lipponen is the new Prime
Minister. Other notable names: Arja Alho, Erkki Tuomioja,
Pertti Paasio, Ulf Sundqvist, Antti Kalliomäki, Lasse Lehtinen,
Kalevi Sorsa. President Martti Ahtisaari, EU commissioner Erkki
Liikanen and many trade union figures come from SDP.
The National Coalition (Kokoomus, abbr. Kok), or Conservatives,
presents itself as the party of entrepreneurs and patriots,
winning 90 per cent shares of vote in army bases. Helsinki and
the other main cities are National Coalition strongholds. While
most of rural Finland is dominated by the green of the Centre,
Eastern Häme is blue for some reason. Chairman Sauli Niinistö
and his minions (Pertti Salolainen, Pekka Kivelä, Ilkka
Suominen, Harri Holkeri) are currently worried about a new
rival, Nuorsuomalaiset (Young Finns - the name harks back to
the days of the Tsar), which appears as a more modern, "cool"
urban alternative. Risto E. J. Penttilä is the champion of the
Young Finns, while the image of the National Coalition is
burdened by the ruthless know-it-all Minister of Finance, Iiro
Viinanen. Riitta Uosukainen is the first-ever Chairwoman of the
Parliament.
The Left-wing Alliance (Vasemmistoliitto, abbr. Vas) is a 1990
attempt to gather together the quarreling Communist movement.
Some splits are still visible both inside and outside of the
party. Much stronger in the North than in the South, the party
gets most of its votes from industrial workers. The eternal
struggle with SDP over trade unions goes on and on. The
chairman is Claes Andersson, psychiatrist and novelist.
The correct translation of Svenska Folkpartiet is not obvious.
In this article "Swedish People's Party" is used, however this
is far from a perfect translation:
"Folkpartiet" means "People's party" and denotes in Finland
like in Scandinavia parties of Liberal, non-Socialist,
character. "Svenska" means that the party intends to represent
the fraction of Finland's citizens with Swedish mother-tongue.
This they do quite well as the Swedish speakers are less than
6% of Finland's population.
The Swedish People's Party (SFP in Swedish, RKP in Finnish)
unites the Swedish-speaking minority of the Southern and
Ostrobothnian coasts, from leftist intellectuals through
farmers and fishermen to nobility. The language issue gives SFP
the stablest electorate of any Finnish party. It manages to
worm its way to most Finnish governments, thus having influence
far greater than its size. One of the 12 mandates is the
representative of Åland Islands, Gunnar Jansson, who
technically is not a member of the party as the islands have a
political system of their own.
The Greens first entered the Parliament in 1983. Their main
concern is the environment (attitudes ranging from moderate to
fanatical) but many counter-culture youths and citizens' rights
activists feel home here as well. Paradoxically, the nature
party thrives mainly in the big cities (the "Neon Greens") as
well as in the Universities.
The Christian League (founded in 1958) owes most of its seats
to skillful electoral alliances which give the party benefit
from votes originally given to other parties. Many of its faces
represent Revivalist movements rather than mainstream
Lutheranism. The chairman is Toimi Kankaanniemi.
SMP, The Finnish Rural Party, (although changing the meaning of
the letters is continually proposed) originated in 1959 as a
rebellious (anti-Kekkonen) fraction of the Agrarian League. The
party's electoral success has been very variable and despite
government participation during the 1980s it never achieved, or
much sought for, respectability, preferring to fish the
populist vote with anti-refugee statements. The current state
of SMP is chaotic, but it has happened before and SMP has risen
like a phoenix from the ashes.
The Liberal Party lost its only MP, the party's chairwoman
Tuulikki Ukkola, in the elections. LKP has a history of power
despite its small size, but is facing extinction and is
hysterical about the threat of the Young Finns.
The ultra green Ecological Party got one MP, one of the
surprises of the elections.
There are a dozen registered parties outside the Parliament.
The law states that a party which twice consecutively fails to
enter the Parliament must be dissolved, but usually they
re-arrange themselves with the collection of another 5,000
signatures. Among them are three pensioners' parties (the least
of them called Party of Shared Responsibility of Pension
Receivers and Greens), the Women's Party and the Natural Law
Party which aims to heal the Finnish economy by the means of
yoga flying. The status of bad old IKL (the main Fascist party,
banned in 1944) is somewhat unclear at the moment.
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