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All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 April 1924. [1] Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest in Parliament with 60 of the 200 seats, Lauri Ingman of the National Coalition Party formed a centre-right majority government in May 1924. It remained intact until the Agrarians left in November 1924. Voter turnout was 57.4%. [2]
President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg decided to dissolve Parliament in January 1924 and to organise early elections for April 1924, as since August 1923, Parliament had been 27 members short following the arrest of the Communist MPs suspected of treason. Around December 1923 and January 1924, the Social Democrats threatened to withdraw from Parliament, unless early elections were held. Prime Minister Kyösti Kallio opposed the dissolution of Parliament, true to his parliamentary principles, and resigned after Ståhlberg indicated that he would dissolve Parliament. After Kallio's resignation, Ståhlberg appointed a caretaker government of civil servants, led by Professor Aimo Cajander (a Progressive). The 1922 land reform had been enacted, on the initiative of Prime Minister Kallio. The National Coalitioners were becoming more right-wing and less reformist. The Progressives were losing votes to the National Coalitioners and Agrarians, with their brand of petty-bourgeois, urban liberalism losing its appeal in the still heavily agrarian Finland. [3] [4]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Social Democratic Party | 255,068 | 29.02 | 60 | +7 | |
| Agrarian League | 177,982 | 20.25 | 44 | –1 | |
| National Coalition Party | 166,880 | 18.99 | 38 | +3 | |
| Swedish People's Party | 105,733 | 12.03 | 23 | –2 | |
| Electoral Organisation of Socialist Workers and Smallholders | 91,839 | 10.45 | 18 | –9 | |
| National Progressive Party | 79,937 | 9.09 | 17 | +2 | |
| Peasants' List | 456 | 0.05 | 0 | New | |
| Others | 1,046 | 0.12 | 0 | – | |
| Total | 878,941 | 100.00 | 200 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 878,941 | 99.45 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 4,884 | 0.55 | |||
| Total votes | 883,825 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,539,393 | 57.41 | |||
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||||
Kyösti Kallio was a Finnish politician who served as the fourth president of Finland from 1937 to 1940. His presidency included leading the country through the Winter War; while he relinquished the post of commander-in-chief to Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, he played a role as a spiritual leader. After the war, he became both the first President of Finland to resign and the only one to die in office, dying of a heart attack while returning home after submitting his resignation.
Lauri Kristian Relander was the second president of Finland (1925–1931). A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his election as President.
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg was a Finnish jurist and academic who was one of the most important pioneers of republicanism in the country. He was the first president of Finland (1919–1925) and a liberal nationalist.
The Centre Party, officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian political party in Finland.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 July 1922. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest in Parliament with 53 of the 200 seats. The caretaker government of Professor Aimo Cajander (Progressive), that President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg had appointed in June 1922, following the resignation of Prime Minister Juho Vennola (Progressive), remained in office until Kyösti Kallio formed an Agrarian-Progressive minority government in November 1922. Voter turnout was 58.5%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1927. Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest in Parliament with 60 of the 200 seats, Juho Sunila of the Agrarian League formed an Agrarian minority government in December 1927. It remained intact until December 1928. Voter turnout was 55.8%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1929. The result was a victory for the Agrarian League, which won 60 of the 200 seats in Parliament. Voter turnout was 55.6%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 October 1930. The Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest in Parliament with 66 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 65.9%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 July 1933. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in Parliament with 78 of the 200 seats. However, Prime Minister Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the National Progressive Party continued in office after the elections, supported by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and quietly by most Agrarians and Social Democrats. They considered Kivimäki's right-wing government a lesser evil than political instability or an attempt by the radical right to gain power. Voter turnout was 62.2%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1936. Following the election Prime Minister Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the National Progressive Party was defeated in a confidence vote in September 1936 and resigned in October. Kyösti Kallio of the Agrarian League formed a centrist minority government after Pehr Evind Svinhufvud refused to allow the Social Democrats to join the government. After Svinhufvud's defeat in the February 1937 presidential election, Kallio took office as the new President in March 1937, and he allowed the Social Democrats, Agrarians and Progressives to form the first centre-left or "red soil" Finnish government. Aimo Cajander (Progressive) became Prime Minister, although the real strong men of the government were Finance Minister Väinö Tanner and Defence Minister Juho Niukkanen (Agrarian).
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1939. Following the elections, the National Progressive Party-led government of Aimo Cajander continued in office. However, he was replaced by Risto Ryti's Progressive-led war government in December 1939.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1948.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 7 and 8 March 1954.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 4 and 5 February 1962.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 March 1919. The Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest in Parliament with 80 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 67.1%.
Indirect presidential elections were held for the first time in Finland in 1919. Although the country had declared Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse king on 9 October 1918, he renounced the throne on 14 December. The president was elected by Parliament, with Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg of the National Progressive Party receiving 71.5% of the 200 votes.
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1925. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the president. The result was a victory for Lauri Kristian Relander, who won on the third ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was just 39.7%. The outgoing president, K.J. Ståhlberg, had refused to seek a second term. According to the late Agrarian and Centrist politician, Johannes Virolainen, he stepped down after one term because he believed that an incumbent president would be too likely to win re-election. President Ståhlberg claimed that he had already completed his political service to Finland as president. Moreover, he wanted to step down because many right-wing Finns opposed him. According to Pentti Virrankoski, a Finnish historian, President Ståhlberg hoped that his retirement would advance parliamentary politics in Finland. Ståhlberg's party, the Progressives, chose Risto Ryti, the governor of the Bank of Finland, as their presidential candidate. The Agrarians only chose Lauri Kristian Relander as their presidential candidate in early February 1925. The National Coalitioners originally chose former Regent and Prime Minister Pehr Evind Svinhufvud as their presidential candidate, but before the presidential electors met, they replaced Svinhufvud with Hugo Suolahti, an academician working as the rector (principal) of the University of Helsinki. Relander surprised many politicians by defeating Ryti as a dark-horse presidential candidate, although he had served as the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, and as Governor of the Province of Viipuri. Ståhlberg had quietly favoured Ryti as his successor, because he considered Ryti a principled and unselfish politician. He was disappointed with Relander's victory, and told one of his daughters that if he had known beforehand that Relander would be elected as his successor, he would have considered seeking a second term.
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1931. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President.The result was a victory for Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, who won on the third ballot by just two votes. The turnout for the popular vote was 47.3%.
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1937. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. Whilst Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg was one vote short of winning on the first ballot, the result was a victory for Kyösti Kallio, who won on the second ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was 57.8%.
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1950, the first time the public had been involved in a presidential election since 1937 as three non-popular elections had taken place in 1940, 1943 and 1946. On 16 and 17 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who won on the first ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was 63.8%. President Paasikivi was at first reluctant to seek re-election, at least in regular presidential elections. He considered asking the Finnish Parliament to re-elect him through another emergency law. Former President Ståhlberg, who acted as his informal advisor, persuaded him to seek re-election through normal means when he bluntly told Paasikivi: "If the Finnish people would not bother to elect a President every six years, they truly would not deserve an independent and democratic republic." Paasikivi conducted a passive, "front-porch" style campaign, making few speeches. By contrast, the Agrarian presidential candidate, Urho Kekkonen, spoke in about 130 election meetings. The Communists claimed that Paasikivi had made mistakes in his foreign policy and had not truly pursued a peaceful and friendly foreign policy towards the Soviet Union. The Agrarians criticized Paasikivi more subtly and indirectly, referring to his advanced age, and speaking anecdotally about aged masters of farmhouses, who had not realized in time that they should have surrendered their houses' leadership to their sons. Kekkonen claimed that the incumbent Social Democratic minority government of Prime Minister K.A. Fagerholm had neglected the Finnish farmers and the unemployed. Kekkonen also championed a non-partisan democracy that would be neither a social democracy nor a people's democracy. The Communists hoped that their presidential candidate, former Prime Minister Mauno Pekkala, would draw votes away from the Social Democrats, because Pekkala was a former Social Democrat. The Agrarians lost over four per cent of their share of the vote compared to the 1948 parliamentary elections. This loss ensured Paasikivi's re-election. Otherwise Kekkonen could have been narrowly elected President - provided that all the Communist and People's Democratic presidential electors would also have voted for him.
| Parliamentary elections | |
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| Municipal elections | |
| County elections | |
| Presidential elections | |
| European elections | |
| Sámi elections | |
| Referendums | |
Elections in brackets were not public elections | |
