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All 200 seats in Parliament 101 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 4,510,040 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 72.8% (![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Election result by constituencies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 14 April 2019. [5] 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.
The Finns Party and the National Coalition Party gained one seat each, with the Finns Party recovering the seats it had lost in the previous parliament when 21 of its MPs left to form Blue Reform, which failed to win a seat. The Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats retained all of their seats that they had won in the previous elections. The Åland Coalition retained their seat in Åland, whilst Harry Harkimo, a former National Coalition MP who founded Movement Now twelve months earlier, was reelected in his constituency, thus giving his own movement its first elected MP.
Social Democratic Party leader Antti Rinne subsequently formed a coalition government with the Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party. Due to the Centre Party's devastating defeat, outgoing party leader and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä consequently announced that he would continue as the chairman only until the party's next convention in September 2019. [6]
The incumbent government was formed by a three party center-right coalition, composed of the Centre Party, Finns Party and National Coalition Party. [7] On 28 May 2015, the parliament elected Juha Sipilä as prime minister by a vote of 128–62. [8]
On 10 June 2017, the Finns Party elected Jussi Halla-aho as the new leader of the party, after the long-time leader Timo Soini had decided to step down. Following the talks among the three coalition leaders, Sipilä and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo announced that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party. The collapse of government was averted on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's parliamentary group, forming what would eventually become the Blue Reform party. One MP (Kike Elomaa) later returned to the Finns Party and another (Kaj Turunen) defected to National Coalition Party, leaving the Blue Reform with 18 and Finns Party with 17 MPs. Veera Ruoho furthermore defected to the National Coalition. Sipilä's government retained a majority in the Parliament as the Blue Reform continued as a member of the coalition and the Finns Party was moved to the opposition. [9]
On 8 March 2019, prime minister Sipilä resigned. However, that same day president Sauli Niinistö reappointed him as head of a caretaker government. According to Sipilä, his government collapsed because of the failure to reach agreement on the controversial health care reform. But several Finnish political analysts (Thomas Karv, Teivo Teivainen) interpreted his resignation as a strategic move that could give the coalition parties, Sipilä's Centre Party in particular, more freedom during the election campaign. Thus, the Centre Party might be able to revive itself in the polls, in which the party was lagging behind the Social Democrats. [10]
After the Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal, support for the anti-immigration Finns Party surged from around 9% in late 2018 to 17.5% by the election.
The Social Democrats proposed raising taxes to fund the country's welfare system. [11]
The election saw "an unusual level of aggression on the campaign trail", [12] especially considering "attacks on politicians are rare in Finland". [13] In late March, a man struck Left Alliance candidate Suldaan Said Ahmed in the chest while calling him an infidel and pedophile [14] a day after a man wearing logos of far-right anti-immigrant group Soldiers of Odin attempted to attack Foreign Minister Timo Soini of the Blue Party. [13]
The 200 members of the Eduskunta were elected using proportional representation in 13 multi-member constituencies, with seats allocated according to the D'Hondt method. The number of elected representatives is proportional to the population in the district six months prior to the elections. Åland has single member electoral district and its own party system. [15] Compared to the previous election in 2015, one seat was reallocated from Savonia-Karelia to Uusimaa.
Electoral district | Seats | ![]() |
---|---|---|
01 Helsinki | 22 | |
02 Uusimaa | 36 | |
03 Finland Proper | 17 | |
04 Satakunta | 8 | |
05 Åland | 1 | |
06 Tavastia | 14 | |
07 Pirkanmaa | 19 | |
08 South-East Finland | 17 | |
09 Savonia-Karelia | 15 | |
10 Vaasa | 16 | |
11 Central Finland | 10 | |
12 Oulu | 18 | |
13 Lapland | 7 |
Voter turnout was 72%, the highest since 1987. The highest turnout was in the Helsinki constituency, where the turnout was 78%. The lowest was in Savo-Karelia constituency at 67% and Åland constituency at 60%. Women had a slightly higher turnout of 74% compared for men who had a turnout of 71%. [16] [17]
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Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
Social Democratic Party | 546,471 | 17.73 | 40 | +6 | |
Finns Party | 538,805 | 17.48 | 39 | +1 | |
National Coalition Party | 523,957 | 17.00 | 38 | +1 | |
Centre Party | 423,920 | 13.76 | 31 | –18 | |
Green League | 354,194 | 11.49 | 20 | +5 | |
Left Alliance | 251,808 | 8.17 | 16 | +4 | |
Swedish People's Party | 139,640 | 4.53 | 9 | 0 | |
Christian Democrats | 120,144 | 3.90 | 5 | 0 | |
Movement Now | 69,427 | 2.25 | 1 | New | |
Blue Reform | 29,943 | 0.97 | 0 | New | |
Pirate Party | 19,032 | 0.62 | 0 | 0 | |
For Åland (C–L–M–S–ÅF) | 11,640 | 0.38 | 1 | 0 | |
Seven Star Movement | 11,366 | 0.37 | 0 | New | |
Citizens' Party | 7,645 | 0.25 | 0 | New | |
Feminist Party | 6,662 | 0.22 | 0 | New | |
Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose | 5,014 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |
Communist Party | 4,305 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | |
Animal Justice Party | 3,378 | 0.11 | 0 | New | |
Independence Party | 2,444 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |
Finnish People First | 2,366 | 0.08 | 0 | New | |
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism | 1,240 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |
Aito suomalainen yhteislista | 589 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
Reform List | 525 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
Alternative for Åland (ÅD) | 358 | 0.01 | 0 | – | |
Rehtiliike yhteislista | 344 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Yhteislista Jaana ja Leo | 87 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
Independents | 6,612 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 3,081,916 | 100.00 | 200 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 3,081,916 | 99.42 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 17,844 | 0.58 | |||
Total votes | 3,099,760 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 4,510,040 | 68.73 | |||
Source: Vaalit |
During election debates, the Social Democrats, the National Coalition Party, Green League, Left Alliance, and the Swedish People's Party stated that they were interested in joining a coalition that does not include the Finns Party. [18] Despite being ruled-out by five parties, Finns Party chairman Jussi Halla-aho said that all parties should show responsibility when forming a coalition. He said the most responsible way to form a coalition is to include the Finns Party. [18]
Two weeks later, SDP chairman Antti Rinne, who was expected to lead the government, sent a questionnaire to each of the other parties, to assess their positions on various topics such as basic income, collective bargaining, climate change or health care reform. [19] Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties, Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party. [20] The negotiations were ultimately successful, and the Rinne Cabinet was formally inaugurated on 6 June. [21]
The Swedish People's Party of Finland is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant in the Government of Petteri Orpo, holding the posts of Minister of Education, Minister for European Affairs, and Minister of Youth, Sport and Physical Activity.
The National Coalition Party is a liberal-conservative political party in Finland. It is currently the biggest party and the ruling political party of Finland.
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.
Timo Juhani Soini is a Finnish politician who is the co-founder and former leader of the Finns Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2019.
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Juha Petri Sipilä is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2019. A relative newcomer to politics, he has a successful background in business. He was the leader of the Centre Party from 2012 to 2019. After leading the Centre party to victory in the 2015 general election, Sipilä formed a centre-right coalition and was appointed Prime Minister by the Finnish Parliament on 29 May 2015. On 8 March 2019, Sipilä stated his intention to resign as Prime Minister, citing difficulties in reforming Finland's health care system. President Sauli Niinistö asked him to continue with a caretaker government until a new government coalition was appointed on 6 June 2019 and was ultimately succeeded by Antti Rinne.
Antti Juhani Rinne is a Finnish politician who served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from April to June 2019 and Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019. He led the Social Democratic Party from 2014 until 2020. In August 2023, he was hired as the General Secretary of SAMAK for a three-year term.
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The 2017 Finnish government crisis followed the Finns Party leadership election held on 10 June 2017. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo announced on 12 June that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party after Jussi Halla-aho was elected party chairman. The crisis resolved on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's parliamentary group, forming what would eventually become The Finnish Reform Movement party. Sipilä's government retained a majority in Finland's parliament as The Finnish Reform Movement continued as a member of the coalition.
The Finnish Reform Movement, previously known as Blue Reform, was a Finnish conservative political party.
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