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 part of the parliamentary opposition.
Matti Taneli Vanhanen is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party in 2006. In his earlier career, he was a journalist. Vanhanen is the son of professor Tatu Vanhanen and Anni Tiihonen.
Tanja Tellervo Karpela is a Finnish former politician and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Finland 1991. She was a Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2011 and served in the government of Finland as Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2007.
Finnish Centre Youth Finnish: Keskustanuoret is the biggest political youth organisation in Finland with 17 000 members. It is the youth wing of the Centre Party. It is formed by 19 regional organisations and approximately 400 local associations.
Paula Lehtomäki is a Finnish politician. She started her political career in 1996, when she was elected to the Kuhmo town council. In 1999 she was elected to the Finnish Parliament, and again in 2003. In 2002, she was elected as the vice-chairman of Keskusta. In April 2004, she was chosen as the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, making her the youngest minister in Matti Vanhanen's first cabinet.
The Minister of Finance is one of the Finnish Government's ministers. The Minister of Finance is responsible for maintaining Finland's fiscal policies and oversees the Ministry of Finance. The Orpo Cabinet's incumbent Minister of Finance is Riikka Purra.
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.
The cabinet of Anneli Jäätteenmäki was the 68th government of Finland. The cabinet was in office from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. It was a majority coalition government headed by Prime Minister Anneli Jäätteenmäki. The cabinet was formed by three parties: the Centre Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Swedish People's Party.
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.
The second cabinet of Matti Vanhanen was the 70th cabinet and Government of Finland. The cabinet held office from 19 April 2007 to 20 June 2010. The cabinet was a centrist coalition, consisting of four parties: the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party, the Green League and the Swedish People's Party.
Jan Pellervo Vapaavuori is a Finnish politician, the former Minister of Economic Affairs, and the former mayor of Helsinki. Vapaavuori was Minister of Housing and Minister of Nordic Cooperation in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet and Mari Kiviniemi's cabinet. He was a candidate for the head of his party in the June 2014 election, and as part of that the likeliest interim Prime Minister of Finland. However he eventually failed to make the eventual head-to-head round within the Coalition Party, which saw Alexander Stubb defeat Paula Risikko.
Mari Johanna Kiviniemi is a Finnish politician, who served as the 41st and second female Prime Minister of Finland from 2010 to 2011.
Anu Helena Vehviläinen is a Finnish politician for the Centre Party who served as Speaker of the Finnish Parliament from 2020 to 2022. She has previously held various cabinet positions, including Finland's Minister of Local Government and Public Reforms in the Sipilä Cabinet from 2015 to 2019; Minister of Transport from May to June 2019; and Minister of Transport in the Vanhanen II and Kiviniemi cabinets from 2007 to 2011.
Tarja Filatov is a member of Finnish Parliament, currently serving as the Second Deputy Speaker, and a former Minister of Employment. She has already been one of the two Deputy Speakers of the Parliament twice. As a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), she represents the Häme constituency since 1995. Previously, she was the vice chairman of the SDP parliamentary group, its chairman and a member of its Working Committee.
Timo Laaninen was the party secretary of the Centre Party in Finland from June 12, 2010 to 2016. Laaninen was the editor-in-chief of Suomenmaa party newspaper from January 2008 up to 2010. Before that he has been a political secretary in Esko Aho's cabinet to the minister of internal affairs, Mauri Pekkarinen, minister for foreign affairs Heikki Haavisto and prime minister Esko Aho. In Anneli Jäätteenmäki's cabinet he was a political secretary for prime minister Anneli Jäätteenmäki and later also for Matti Vanhanen in Matti Vanhanen's cabinet.
Presidential elections were held in Finland on 28 January 2018. The incumbent Sauli Niinistö received 63% of the vote and was elected for a second term, avoiding a second round. He received a plurality of the vote in every municipality and a majority in all but 13 municipalities.
Katri Briitta Ilona Kulmuni is a Finnish politician who served as the 35th deputy prime minister of Finland and the leader of the Centre Party between 2019 and 2020. A member of the Centre Party, she was a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2024. In the 2024 European Parliament election, she was elected to the European Parliament.
The cabinet of Sanna Marin was the 76th government of Finland. It was formed following the collapse of the Rinne Cabinet and officially took office on 10 December 2019. The cabinet headed by Sanna Marin consists of a coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party, the Green League, the Left Alliance, and the Swedish People's Party.
Events from the year 2005 in Finland
