1929 Finnish parliamentary election

1929 Finnish parliamentary election

←  1927 1–2 July 1929 1930  →
All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pekka Heikkinen Matti Paasivuori Kyösti Haataja Party Agrarian SDP National Coalition Last election 22.56%, 52 seats 28.30%, 60 seats 17.74%, 34 seats Seats won 60 59 28 Seat change 8 1 6 Popular vote 248,762 260,254 138,008 Percentage 26.15% 27.36% 14.51% Swing 3.59pp 0.94pp 3.23pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Eric von Rettig Oskari Mantere Party STPV RKP National Progressive Last election 12.08%, 20 seats 12.20%, 24 seats 6.77%, 10 seats Seats won 23 23 7 Seat change 3 1 3 Popular vote 128,164 108,886 53,301 Percentage 13.47% 11.45% 5.60% Swing 1.39pp 0.75pp 1.17pp
Prime Minister before election Oskari Mantere National Progressive Prime Minister after election Kyösti Kallio Agrarian

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1929. ^[1] The result was a victory for the Agrarian League, which won 60 of the 200 seats in Parliament. Voter turnout was 55.6%. ^[2]

Background

President Relander, an Agrarian, believed that the Finnish civil servants should get a pay raise, after a long period of frozen salaries, that had caused them to lose a significant amount of purchasing power. Most of his fellow Agrarians opposed him and the Progressive minority government of Prime Minister Mantere on this issue, arguing that the civil servants, on average, were still clearly better paid than the agricultural workers. After the Finnish Parliament rejected the government's legislative proposal on the increase of civil servants' salaries in April 1929, President Relander dissolved Parliament and called early elections for July. The Agrarians and Communists campaigned on the rejection of the civil servants' proposed salary increases, and both parties gained seats. The National Coalitioners and Progressives who favoured the salary increases suffered a defeat. President Relander was displeased by the Agrarians' victory, because he could not get along well with their leader, Mr. Kallio, but he reluctantly appointed Kallio as Prime Minister of an Agrarian minority government after the elections. ^{[3] [4]}

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Agrarian League	248,762	26.15	60	+8
	Social Democratic Party	260,254	27.36	59	–1
	National Coalition Party	138,008	14.51	28	–6
	Electoral Organisation of Socialist Workers and Smallholders	128,164	13.47	23	+3
	Swedish People's Party	108,886	11.45	23	–1
	National Progressive Party	53,301	5.60	7	–3
	Small Farmers' Party	10,154	1.07	0	New
	Peasant People's Party–Farmers' Party	1,258	0.13	0	0
	Others	2,483	0.26	0	–
Total		951,270	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		951,270	99.47
Invalid/blank votes		5,026	0.53
Total votes		956,296	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,719,567	55.61
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Tilastokeskus 2004, [5] Lackman [6]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p607
3. Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen, Helsinki: WSOY, 2003
4. Sakari Virkkunen, Finland's Presidents I / Suomen presidentit I, Helsinki: WSOY, 1994
5. Tiedosto "595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
6. Matti Lackman: Taistelu talonpojasta (Pohjoinen 1985), s. 133.