1975 Finnish parliamentary election

1975 Finnish parliamentary election

← 1972 21–22 September 1975 1979 →

All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Rafael Paasio Ele Alenius Johannes Virolainen
Party SDP SKDL Centre
Last election 25.78%, 55 seats 17.02%, 37 seats 16.41%, 35 seats
Seats won 54 40 39
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 3 Increase 4
Popular vote 683,590 519,483 484,772
Percentage 24.86% 18.89% 17.63%
Swing Decrease 0.92pp Increase 1.87pp Increase 1.22pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Harri Holkeri Carl Olof Tallgren Pekka Tarjanne
Party National Coalition RKP Liberal People's
Last election 17.59%, 34 seats 5.06%, 9 seats 5.16%, 7 seats
Seats won 35 9 9
Seat change Increase 1 Steady Increase 2
Popular vote 505,145 128,211 119,534
Percentage 18.37% 4.66% 4.35%
Swing Increase 0.78pp Decrease 0.40pp Decrease 0.81pp

  Seventh party Eighth party
 
Leader Raino Westerholm Veikko Vennamo
Party Christian League Rural Party
Last election 2.53%, 4 seats 9.16%, 18 seats
Seats won 9 2
Seat change Increase 5 Decrease 16
Popular vote 90,599 98,815
Percentage 3.29% 3.59%
Swing Increase 0.76pp Decrease 5.57pp

Prime Minister before election

Keijo Liinamaa
Independent

Prime Minister after election

Martti Miettunen
Centre

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 21 and 22 September 1975.[1]

Background

Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa's Social Democratic Party government survived until June 1975. It resigned because of internal disagreements over the ways to combat Finland's recession, which had largely been caused by the 1973 oil crisis, as well as the government's increased spending and taxes. The Social Democrats and Centre Party also disagreed on regional policy over the extent to which the national government should re-distribute power and tax revenues to cities, towns and administrative provinces.

President Urho Kekkonen had gradually become dissatisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Sorsa, Finance Minister Johannes Virolainen and Foreign Minister Ahti Karjalainen: either they were not competent, diligent or courageous enough, or they spent too much time in partisan disputes, or - in Virolainen's case, especially - their foreign policy ability or understanding was not good enough. Although Helsinki was to host the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) at the end of July and at the start of August 1975, Kekkonen did not worry about the possibly negative effect on Finland's international image of having a caretaker government. He appointed it, and chose Keijo Liinamaa of the Social Democratic Party as Prime Minister, who was the state labour disputes mediator.

Campaign

The opposition parties campaigned with varied slogans; the Finnish People's Democratic League claimed to be loyal supporters of Kekkonen's foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and to be even more faithful defenders of the working class than the Social Democrats; the National Coalition Party promised voters lower taxes and more security; the Finnish Rural Party bitterly condemned Kekkonen's allegedly authoritarian presidency, and his "servile" foreign policy towards the Soviet Union.

The right-wing Constitutional People's Party accused Kekkonen of violating the Constitution's spirit by forcing Parliament to re-elect him as President through an exceptional law in 1973, and the Finnish Christian League kept opposing abortion, pornography, the sale of beer in grocery stores, and the public mocking of Christian values.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party683,59024.8654–1
Finnish People's Democratic League519,48318.8940+3
National Coalition Party505,14518.3735+1
Centre Party484,77217.6339+4
Swedish People's Party128,2114.6690
Liberal People's Party119,5344.359+2
Finnish Rural Party98,8153.592–16
Finnish Christian League90,5993.299+5
Finnish People's Unity Party45,4021.651New
Constitutional People's Party43,3441.581New
Party of Finnish Entrepreneurs11,4750.420New
Åland Coalition9,4820.3410
Socialist Workers Party9,4570.340New
Others5090.020
Total2,749,818100.002000
Valid votes2,749,81899.59
Invalid/blank votes11,4050.41
Total votes2,761,223100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,741,46073.80
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004,[2] Suomen virallinen tilasto[3]

By electoral district

Electoral district Total
seats
Seats won
SDP SKDL Kesk Kok RKP LKP SKL SMP SKYP SPK ÅS
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 10 3 2 3 2
Häme 15 5 3 2 4 1
Helsinki 21 6 4 4 3 2 1 1
Kymi 15 6 1 3 3 1 1
Lapland 9 1 3 4 1
North Karelia 8 3 1 2 1 1
North Savo 11 2 3 4 1 1
Oulu 17 2 5 6 1 1 1 1
Pirkanmaa 13 4 4 1 3 1
Satakunta 13 4 3 2 3 1
South Savo 9 3 1 3 2
Uusima 24 8 4 2 5 2 2 1
Vaasa 18 3 2 5 2 3 1 1 1
Varsinais-Suomi 16 4 4 2 3 1 1 1
Total 200 54 40 39 35 9 9 9 2 1 1 1
Source: Statistics Finland[4]

Aftermath

Government formation in the midst of a quickly deepening recession and after an inconclusive election proved very painstaking. Veteran Centrist politician Martti Miettunen finally succeeded, with the help of Kekkonen's strongly-worded televised speech, in forming a centre-left majority "emergency" government in November 1975. It lasted until September 1976, when the Social Democrats and Finnish People's Democratic League left it. Miettunen then formed a centrist minority government.[5][6][7][8][9]

References

  1. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ 595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
  3. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto 29 A, XXXIII
  4. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:33: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1975. Statistics Finland. 1976.
  5. ^ Seppo Zetterberg et al (2003) A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY
  6. ^ Raino Westerholm (1978) Into a Christian Society, Kirjayhtymä
  7. ^ Veikko Vennamo (1989) As a Prisoner of the Kekkonen Dictatorship, Gummerus
  8. ^ Kimmo Rentola (2005) A Ghost of Revolution: The Left, Belyakov and Kekkonen, Otava
  9. ^ Georg C. Ehrnrooth (1999) Amid the Crocodiles: Memories from the Cold War Decades, Schildts