1978 Finnish presidential election

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1978 Finnish presidential election
Flag of Finland.svg
  1968 15–16 January 1978 1982  
  Urho-Kekkonen-1977 (cropped).jpg Raino-Westerholm-1977 (cropped).jpg
Candidate Urho Kekkonen Raino Westerholm
Party Centre Christian League
Electoral vote25925
Popular vote2,017,631215,244

  Veikkovennamo1988 (cropped).jpg
CPP
Candidate Veikko Vennamo Ahti M. Salonen
Party Rural Party CPP
Electoral vote106
Popular vote114,48882,478

President before election

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Elected President

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1978. They were the first elections since 1968, as Parliament had extended Urho Kekkonen's term by four years. [1] The public elected presidential electors to an electoral college on 15 and 16 January. [2] The electors, in turn assembled in Helsinki on 15 February to formally elect the President. Urho Kekkonen, president since 1956, was re-elected on the first ballot by the electors. [1] The turnout for the popular vote was 64%. [3]

Contents

Kekkonen had agreed to become the Social Democratic presidential candidate in April 1975, and after that all the major Finnish political parties chose him as their candidate. Kekkonen's opponents, such as the Christian League's presidential candidate Raino Westerholm, claimed that Kekkonen's long presidency weakened Finnish democracy. Over one-third of Finnish voters abstained from voting, partly as a protest against Kekkonen's expected landslide victory.

The 77-year-old Kekkonen's health was already declining, although this was not easily noticeable in his public appearances. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Results

Party or allianceVotes%Seats
Supporters of Urho Kekkonen Social Democratic Party 569,15423.2574
Centre Party 475,37219.4264
Finnish People's Democratic League 445,09818.1856
National Coalition Party 360,31014.7245
Swedish People's Party 88,0543.6012
Liberals 71,2322.918
Åland Coalition 5,3310.221
Socialist Workers Party 2,1870.090
Private Entrepreneurs' Party  [ fi ]8930.040
Total2,017,63182.41260
Finnish Christian League 215,2448.7924
Finnish Rural Party 114,4884.6810
Constitutional People's Party 82,4783.376
Finnish People's Unity Party 18,5430.760
Total2,448,384100.00300
Valid votes2,448,38499.11
Invalid/blank votes21,9550.89
Total votes2,470,339100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,844,27964.26
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Electoral college

CandidatePartyVotes%
Urho Kekkonen Centre Party 25986.33
Raino Westerholm Finnish Christian League 258.33
Veikko Vennamo Finnish Rural Party 103.33
Ahti M. Salonen  [ fi ] Constitutional People's Party 62.00
Total300100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

  1. 1 2 Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p630 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p606
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p624
  4. Timo Vihavainen (2003) "The Welfare Finland" (Hyvinvointi-Suomi), pp883–884 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY
  5. Pentti Virrankoski (2009) A History of Finland, Finnish Literature Society, p963
  6. Aarno Laitinen et al., eds. (1981) Tamminiemi's Inheritance Dividers, Journalists Ltd
  7. Seeger, Murray (1 February 1978). "Finland's Kekkonen Seems Indispensable". Los Angeles Times. p. I-A-1.