2015 Finnish parliamentary election

Last updated

2015 Finnish parliamentary election
Flag of Finland (state).svg
←  2011 19 April 2015 2019  →
All 200 seats in Parliament
101 seats needed for a majority
Registered4,463,333
Turnout70.1% (Decrease2.svg 0.4pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Soome ja Eesti riigipead Soome 100 kontserdil (cropped).jpg
Timo Soini 2015.JPG
Alexander Stubb Oct, 2014.jpg
Leader Juha Sipilä Timo Soini Alexander Stubb
Party Centre Finns National Coalition
Last election35 seats, 15.8%39 seats, 19.1%44 seats, 20.4%
Seats won493837
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 14Decrease2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 7
Popular vote626,218524,054540,212
Percentage21.1%17.7%18.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg 5.3ppDecrease2.svg 1.4ppDecrease2.svg 2.2pp
 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
 
Antti Rinne.jpg
Ville Niinisto Grona forbundet (grona) Finland. Nordiska radets session 2010.jpg
Paavo Arhinmaki 2011 (cropped).jpg
Leader Antti Rinne Ville Niinistö Paavo Arhinmäki
Party SDP Green Left Alliance
Last election42 seats, 19.1%10 seats, 7.3%14 seats, 8.1%
Seats won341512
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 8Increase2.svg 5Decrease2.svg 2
Popular vote490,102253,102211,702
Percentage16.5%8.5%7.1%
SwingDecrease2.svg 2.6ppIncrease2.svg 1.3ppDecrease2.svg 1.0pp
 Seventh partyEighth partyNinth party
 
Carl Haglund.jpg
Paivi Rasanen 2015.jpg
Mats Lofstrom 2020.jpg
Leader Carl Haglund Päivi Räsänen Mats Löfström
Party RKP KD ÅS
Last election9 seats, 4.3%6 seats, 4.0%1 seat, 0.3%
Seats won951
Seat changeSteady2.svg 0Decrease2.svg 1Steady2.svg 0
Popular vote144,802105,13410,910
Percentage4.9%3.5%0.4%
SwingIncrease2.svg 0.6ppDecrease2.svg 0.5ppSteady2.svg 0.0pp
2015 Finland parliamentary election.svg
Results map
Prime Minister before election

Alexander Stubb
National Coalition

Prime Minister after election

Juha Sipilä
Centre

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 19 April 2015, [1] with advance voting taking place from 8 to 14 April. [2] The 200 members of the Parliament of Finland were elected with the proportional D'Hondt method.

Contents

There were 4,463,333 people entitled to vote in Finland and abroad. [3]

Background

Previous government coalition

2015 candidate posters Election posters Oulu 20150404.jpg
2015 candidate posters

The incumbent government was a four-party coalition composed of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats as well as independent Member of Parliament Elisabeth Nauclér. The Left Alliance and the Green League were initially also part of the governing coalition, but both left in 2014.

On 22 June 2011, the parliament elected Jyrki Katainen as prime minister by a vote of 118–72; two Left Alliance MPs voted against Katainen, for which they were formally reprimanded by the Left Alliance parliamentary group. They were subsequently expelled from the group, reducing the government majority from 126 MPs to 124. In March 2014 the Left Alliance announced that it was leaving the cabinet, citing the party's opposition to budget cuts in social welfare programs, which had been agreed to by the other five parties. [4] This reduced the government's majority to 112 MPs.

In April 2014 Jyrki Katainen announced that he would not seek another term as the chairman of the National Coalition Party. The NCP chose Alexander Stubb as its new chairman in June, and he subsequently became the new prime minister. In September 2014 the Green League announced that it was leaving the cabinet. The Greens were opposed to the other governing parties' decision to grant Fennovoima a licence for building a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki. [5] The Greens' departure cut the government's majority to 102 MPs (including the Speaker of the Parliament, who does not vote). [6]

Electoral district changes

Electoral districts in the 2015 election Electoral constituencies of Finland 2013-2020.svg
Electoral districts in the 2015 election

In 2013 the parliament decided to merge certain electoral districts to create larger districts: the electoral districts of Northern Savonia and North Karelia were merged into a new district called Savonia-Karelia, while the electoral districts of Kymi and Southern Savonia were merged into a new district called South-Eastern Finland. [7]

Electoral districtSeats
01 Helsinki 22
02 Uusimaa 35
03 Finland Proper 17
04 Satakunta 8
05 Åland 1
06 Tavastia 14
07 Pirkanmaa 19
08 South-East Finland 17
09 Savonia-Karelia 16
10 Vaasa 16
11 Central Finland 10
12 Oulu 18
13 Lapland 7

Opinion polls

Taloustutkimus opinion polling since 2011 election. 2015 Finland opinion polls.png
Taloustutkimus opinion polling since 2011 election.

Results

Largest party by municipality: .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Centre Party Finns Party National Coalition Party Social Democratic Party Left Alliance Swedish People's Party Aland Coalition Christian Democrats Eduskuntavaalit 2015.png
Largest party by municipality:
  Centre Party
  Finns Party
  National Coalition Party
  Social Democratic Party
  Left Alliance
  Swedish People's Party
  Åland Coalition
  Christian Democrats
Largest party by electoral district: National Coalition Party Finns Party Centre Party Social Democratic Party Aland Coalition Finnish parliamentary election, 2015 results by constituency.png
Largest party by electoral district:
  National Coalition Party
  Finns Party
  Centre Party
  Social Democratic Party
  Åland Coalition
Finland Eduskunta 2015.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Centre Party 626,21821.1049+14
Finns Party 524,05417.6538−1
National Coalition Party 540,21218.2037−7
Social Democratic Party 490,10216.5134−8
Green League 253,1028.5315+5
Left Alliance 211,7027.1312−2
Swedish People's Party 144,8024.8890
Christian Democrats 105,1343.545−1
Pirate Party 25,0860.8500
Independence Party 13,6380.4600
Åland Coalition 2015 (C–M–S)10,9100.3710
Communist Party 7,5290.2500
Change 2011 7,4420.2500
Pirkanmaa Joint List2,4690.080New
Liberals for Åland 1,2770.0400
Communist Workers' Party 1,1030.0400
Workers' Party 9840.0300
For the Poor 6230.0200
Independents2,0750.0700
Total2,968,462100.002000
Valid votes2,968,46299.48
Invalid/blank votes15,3970.52
Total votes2,983,859100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,463,33366.85
Source: Ministry of Justice, YLE

Government formation

As the leader of the largest party, Juha Sipilä of Centre was tasked with forming the new government coalition. In early May, Sipilä announced that he would seek to form a right-leaning majority coalition consisting of the three largest parties—the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party. [9] The coalition negotiations were successful and led to the formation of the Sipilä cabinet on 29 May.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Left Alliance (Finland)</span> Finnish political party

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The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.

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Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 14 April 2019. For the first time, no party received more than 20% of the vote. The Centre Party, which had been the largest party following the 2015 elections, dropped to fourth place, losing 18 seats and recording its lowest vote share since 1917. The Social Democratic Party saw the biggest gains, winning six more seats and narrowly becoming the largest party for the first time since 1999. The Green League and the Left Alliance also gained five and four seats respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krista Mikkonen</span> Finnish politician

Krista Johanna Mikkonen is a Finnish politician of the Green League, a member of parliament, and Finland's Minister of the Interior. She lives in Joensuu but spent her childhood in Koria. She was first elected to the Finnish Parliament in the 2015 parliamentary election for the Savo-Karelia constituency. Between 2016 and 2019, Mikkonen was the chairman of the Green League parliamentary group. Mikkonen graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Joensuu in North Karelia in 2003.

References

  1. ↑ "Finnish Parliamentary Elections 2015" (PDF). vaalit.fi. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Advance voting begins ahead of parliamentary elections". yle.fi. Yle News English. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "People entitled to vote". vaalit.fi. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Vasemmistoliitto lähtee hallituksesta YLE, 25 March 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Fennovoiman periaatepäätös hyväksyttiin, vihreät jättää hallituksen Helsingin Sanomat, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Vihreät ulos hallituksesta – "Mieli on raskas ja pettynyt" YLE, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Vaalipiiriuudistus lyötiin lukkoon eduskunnassa YLE, 6 March 2013, accessed 18 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Yle Tulos palvelu Koko maa". Yle Vaalikone.
  9. ↑ Sipilä opts for right-leaning government, YLE News 7 May 2015, accessed 7 May 2015.

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