1999 Finnish parliamentary election

1999 Finnish parliamentary election
All 200 seats in Parliament ; 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	65.3%
Prime Minister before election; Paavo Lipponen ; SDP	Prime Minister after election; Paavo Lipponen ; SDP

Last updated December 07, 2024

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 21 March 1999.^[1] Despite suffering significant losses, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) remained the largest party of the Eduskunta and Paavo Lipponen remained Prime Minister.

Background

Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's five-party "rainbow government" consisting of the SDP, National Coalition Party, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party and the Green League had been in power since April 1995. It had managed to keep Finland's economy growing, to reduce the state's budget deficit and to create jobs, although it had failed to halve the unemployment rate: in 1995, the unemployment had been 15.4% and in 1999, it still stood at 10.2%. This was, as the governing parties pointed out, still a better record than the previous centre-right government's performance; during its term between 1991 and 1995, the unemployment had risen from 6.6% to 15.4%.

Campaign

The largest opposition party, the Centre Party, tried to become the largest party overall, and to re-join the government. They called for labour reform, which they claimed would make it easier for employers to hire new employees and for small enterprises to operate. Finland's largest labour unions rejected the proposed work reform, claiming that it would reduce the employees' job security and would excessively increase the employers' power. The Centrists also accused the government of not improving the Finnish economy enough, and of not slowing down sufficiently the large internal migration of Finns from the rural towns and small cities to the large economic growth centres, like the Helsinki and Tampere regions.

Several parties hired as their candidates previously non-political or only locally politically active celebrities, such as Leena Harkimo, the manager of Helsinki's ice hockey team Jokerit, Lasse Virén, a former long-distance running Olympic champion, and Anni Sinnemäki, the songwriter of pop music group Ultra Bra. Some of these celebrities got elected. After the elections, Prime Minister Lipponen formed a new government of the same five parties. Only one of those parties left the government during the parliamentary term 1999-2003: the Greens moved into the opposition in May 2002, when the Parliament approved the construction of Finland's fifth nuclear power plant.^[2]^[3]

Results



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	612,963	22.86	51	−12
	Centre Party	600,592	22.40	48	+4
	National Coalition Party	563,835	21.03	46	+7
	Left Alliance	291,675	10.88	20	−2
	Green League	194,846	7.27	11	+2
	Swedish People's Party	137,330	5.12	11	0
	Finnish Christian League	111,835	4.17	10	+3
	Reform Group	28,549	1.06	1	New
	Young Finns	28,084	1.05	0	−2
	Finns Party	26,440	0.99	1	New
	Communist Party	20,442	0.76	0	New
	Ecological Party the Greens	10,378	0.39	0	−1
	Alliance for Free Finland	10,104	0.38	0	0
	Liberals for Åland	5,870	0.22	1	0
	Pensioners for People	5,451	0.20	0	0
	Liberal People's Party	5,194	0.19	0	0
	Pensioners' Party	4,481	0.17	0	0
	Natural Law Party	3,903	0.15	0	0
	Åland Centre–Freeminded–Non-aligned	3,678	0.14	0	0
	Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism	3,455	0.13	0	0
	Åland Social Democrats	924	0.03	0	0
	Others	11,262	0.42	0	–
Total		2,681,291	100.00	200	0

Valid votes		2,681,291	98.94
Invalid/blank votes		28,804	1.06
Total votes		2,710,095	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,152,430	65.27
Source: Tilastokeskus,^[4] ASUB

By electoral district

Electoral district	Total seats	Seats won
		SDP	Kesk	Kok	Vas	Vihr	RKP	SKL	Rem	PS	L

Åland	1										1
Central Finland	10	3	4	1	1			1
Häme	13	4	2	4	1	1		1
Helsinki	20	5	1	7	1	4	2
Kymi	13	5	3	3	1			1
Lapland	8	1	4	1	2
North Karelia	7	4	2	1
North Savo	10	2	4	2	1			1
Oulu	18	2	9	2	3	1		1
Pirkanmaa	16	4	2	5	3	1		1
Satakunta	10	3	2	2	2			1
South Savo	8	3	3	2
Uusima	32	8	3	9	3	3	4	1	1
Vaasa	17	3	6	2			4	1		1
Varsinais-Suomi	17	4	3	5	2	1	1	1
Total	200	51	48	46	20	11	11	10	1	1	1

Source: Statistics Finland^[5]

By province

Province	Social Democratic	Centre	National Coalition	Left Alliance	Green League	Swedish People's	Christian League	Reform Group	Young Finns	True Finns	Communist	Electorate	Votes	Valid	Invalid
Southern Savonia	26,029	30,231	14,778	2,284	4,195	0	5,137	538	0	578	168	132,335	85,641	84,803	1,019
Northern Savonia	24,889	45,226	20,323	17,731	5,861	0	5,749	571	747	3,467	1,140	198,391	127,436	126,611	1,143
Northern Karelia	32,467	26,726	9,923	4,457	3,724	0	5,579	308	2,162	1,392	688	133,389	88,825	88,243	790
Kainuu	4,010	20,593	4,515	12,150	1,192	0	919	450	201	332	583	70,684	46,600	46,201	532
Uusimaa	150,585	55,513	183,700	58,354	91,819	60,281	17,903	12,342	15,909	1,258	3,831	962,873	666,338	663,813	7,536
Eastern Uusimaa	10,879	4,888	6,589	2,337	2,748	13,855	871	1,672	335	138	223	66,336	45,479	45,170	527
Southwest Finland	54,988	39,616	63,753	27,939	18,178	11,881	5,421	1,010	1,808	587	1,640	344,072	236,766	235,203	2,465
Tavastia Proper	24,866	16,310	20,803	6,770	5,808	0	8,514	556	487	162	571	127,728	87,776	86,783	1,184
Päijänne Tavastia	26,374	15,569	27,481	9,400	5,933	36	6,923	1,027	313	679	591	153,108	97,463	96,656	1,134
Kymenlaakso	34,448	19,219	24,931	8,311	5,456	0	5,049	584	0	178	657	149,271	99,978	99,412	1,068
South Karelia	22,172	19,433	17,415	2,469	3,751	0	4,175	403	0	465	572	108,576	71,958	71,337	849
Central Finland	33,744	41,459	20,223	16,816	7,116	247	10,875	849	1,768	300	1,082	202,050	136,420	135,455	1,461
Southern Ostrobothnia	15,041	52,128	21,711	3,821	1,944	192	4,063	574	0	8,402	272	150,517	110,174	109,683	807
Ostrobothnia	15,051	9,741	8,809	6,230	2,369	47,334	4,694	241	0	1,371	334	131,979	96,952	96,955	781
Satakunta	36,722	30,587	27,943	20,415	4,044	10	6,084	823	3	852	478	188,315	130,669	129,518	1,476
Pirkanmaa	55,569	36,278	56,918	36,800	16,123	0	10,817	2,073	3,117	1,385	2,927	343,944	236,491	234,823	2,487
Central Ostrobothnia	6,090	16,032	3,288	1,822	744	3,208	4,628	839	0	1,701	144	53,399	39,080	38,906	376
Northern Ostrobothnia	25,164	76,611	20,376	25,476	11,994	0	3,119	3,053	1,234	2,635	4,136	263,201	178,469	177,498	1,898
Lapland	13,875	44,432	10,356	28,093	1,847	286	1,315	636	0	558	405	148,965	103,754	103,749	1,122
Åland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19,132	10,465	10,472	149
Source: European Election Database Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine

Related Research Articles

Paavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2003 to 2007 and was his party's nominee in the 2012 Finnish presidential election but received only 6.7% of the votes, making it the biggest defeat the Social Democratic Party had ever received in Finnish presidential elections at the time. Lipponen is currently the oldest living former prime minister of Finland.

Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki is a Finnish politician who was the first female and 39th prime minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland.

The prime minister of Finland is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol after the president of Finland and the speaker of the Parliament but is in practice the most powerful officeholder. Finland's first prime minister, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, was appointed on 27 November 1917, just a few days before the country declared its independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centre Party (Finland)</span> Agrarian political party in Finland

The Centre Party, officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian-centrist political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been described as liberal, social-liberal, liberal-conservative, and conservative-liberal. The party’s leader is Antti Kaikkonen, who was elected in June 2024 to succeed former minister Annika Saarikko. As of June 2023, the party has been a part of the parliamentary opposition.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 16 March 2003. The Centre Party led by Anneli Jäätteenmäki overtook the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to become the largest party in the Eduskunta. This was credited mainly to Jäätteenmäki's powerful leadership and modernization of the party still often viewed as agrarian and conservative by many. However, the SDP actually won some seats and increased its share of the vote, losing in the number of total popular votes only by a few thousand.

Varsinais-Suomi is one of the 13 electoral districts of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. The district was established as Turku Province South in 1907 when the Diet of Finland was replaced by the Parliament of Finland. It was renamed Varsinais-Suomi in 1997. It is conterminous with the region of Southwest Finland. The district currently elects 17 of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 398,903 registered electors.

Helsinki is one of the 13 electoral districts of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. The district was established as Helsinki City in 1954 from parts of Uusimaa Province. It was renamed Helsinki in 1997. It is conterminous with the municipality of Helsinki. The district currently elects 23 of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 546,375 registered electors.

Satakunta is one of the 13 electoral districts of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. The district was established as Turku Province North in 1907 when the Diet of Finland was replaced by the Parliament of Finland. It was renamed Satakunta in 1997. It is conterminous with the region of Satakunta. The district currently elects eight of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 176,653 registered electors.

Uusimaa is one of the 13 electoral districts of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. The district was established as Uusimaa Province in 1907 when the Diet of Finland was replaced by the Parliament of Finland. It was renamed Uusimaa in 1997. It is conterminous with the region of Uusimaa but excludes the municipality of Helsinki which has its own electoral district. The district currently elects 37 of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 801,205 registered electors.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 18 March 2007. Early voting was possible from the 7–13 March. The 200 members of the Eduskunta were elected from 15 constituencies.

The Iraq leak is a series of events that began on 6 March 2003 from a statement given by Anneli Jäätteenmäki, leader of the Finnish Centre Party, in a televised election debate prior to the 2003 parliamentary election. Jäätteenmäki accused Paavo Lipponen, the then Prime Minister of Finland, of attaching Finland to George W. Bush's 'coalition of the willing' that was in preparation for the 2003 war in Iraq.^{Lipponen had visited Washington on 9 December 2002.}

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 15 and 16 March 1970.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 21 and 22 September 1975.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 18 and 19 March 1979.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 20 and 21 March 1983. The elections were widely regarded as a "protest election" because, contrary to expectations, the major parties with the exception of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) performed poorly; the Liberal People's Party (LKP) lost all its seats in the Eduskunta, while the Finnish Rural Party (SMP) more than doubled its seat tally and the Greens won seats for the first time. The SMP's success was credited, at least in part, to voter distaste for some mainstream parties because of political scandals; no significant policy differences emerged in the election campaign. The SDP won 57 seats, the best performance by a party since World War II.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 March 1991, the first time a Finnish parliamentary election had been held on a single day. For the first time since 1962 the Social Democratic Party was displaced as the largest party in the Eduskunta, with the Centre Party winning 55 seats and forming the first centre-right, non-social democratic government since 1964, with Esko Aho as Prime Minister.

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 19 March 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fagerholm III cabinet</span>

Karl-August Fagerholm's third cabinet, also known as the Night Frost Cabinet or the Night Frost Government, was the 44th government of Republic of Finland, in office from August 29, 1958 to January 13, 1959. It was a majority government. The cabinet was formed after the parliamentary election of 1958.

The Social Democratic Party of Finland is a social democratic political party in Finland. It is the third largest party in the Parliament of Finland with a total of 43 seats.

Arja Inkeri Alho is a Finnish politician. She was member of the Parliament of Finland from 1983 to 1999 and again from 2003 to 2007, representing the constituency of Helsinki until 1999 and then the constituency of Uusimaa since 2003. She also served as the Deputy Minister of Finance of Finland under Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen from 1995 to 1997. She resigned the government in October 1997 when it was revealed that she had agreed to reduce the compensation that Ulf Sundqvist had been sentenced to pay.

References

↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Hannakatri Hollmén et al (2000) What Where When 2000 - The Citizen's Yearbook, Otava, pp208–211, 240–241
↑ Jukka Hartikainen et al (2002) What Where When 2003 - The Citizen's Yearbook, Otava, pp15–116
↑ Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 Tilastokeskus 2004
↑ Vaalit 1999:1 - Eduskuntavaalit 1999. Statistics Finland. 1999.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[DN-1] Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Hannakatri Hollmén et al (2000) What Where When 2000 - The Citizen's Yearbook, Otava, pp208–211, 240–241

[3] Jukka Hartikainen et al (2002) What Where When 2003 - The Citizen's Yearbook, Otava, pp15–116

[4] Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 Tilastokeskus 2004

[5] Vaalit 1999:1 - Eduskuntavaalit 1999. Statistics Finland. 1999.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Elections and referendums in Finland
Parliamentary elections	1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1922 1924 1927 1929 1930 1933 1936 1939 1945 1948 1951 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1972 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Municipal elections	1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1928 1930 1933 1936 1945 1947 1950 1953 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2017 2021
County elections	2022
Presidential elections	(1919) 1925 1931 1937 (1940) (1943) (1946) 1950 1956 1962 1968 1978 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1996 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Sámi elections	1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Referendums	1931 1994
Elections in brackets were not public elections