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1970 Finnish parliamentary election

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1970 Finnish parliamentary election

← 1966 15–16 March 1970 1972 →

All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Rafael Paasio Juha Rihtniemi Johannes Virolainen
Party SDP National Coalition Centre
Last election 27.23%, 55 seats 13.79%, 26 seats 21.23%, 49 seats
Seats won 52 37 36
Seat change Decrease 3 Increase 11 Decrease 13
Popular vote 594,185 457,582 434,150
Percentage 23.43% 18.05% 17.12%
Swing Decrease 3.80pp Increase 4.26pp Decrease 4.11pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ele Alenius Veikko Vennamo Jan-Magnus Jansson
Party SKDL Rural Party RKP
Last election 21.20%, 41 seats 1.03%, 1 seat 5.69%, 11 seats
Seats won 36 18 11
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 17 Steady
Popular vote 420,556 265,939 135,465
Percentage 16.58% 10.49% 5.34%
Swing Decrease 4.62pp Increase 9.46pp Decrease 0.39pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Pekka Tarjanne Eino Sares
Party Liberal People's Christian League ÅS
Last election 6.47%, 9 seats 0.45%, 0 seats 0.30%, 1 seat
Seats won 8 1 1
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 1 Steady
Popular vote 150,823 28,547 8,971
Percentage 5.95% 1.13% 0.35%
Swing Decrease 0.52pp Increase 0.68pp Increase 0.05pp

Prime Minister before election

Mauno Koivisto
SDP

Prime Minister after election

Teuvo Aura
Independent

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 15 and 16 March 1970.[1]

Background

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Mauno Koivisto had replaced Rafael Paasio as leader of the Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister in March 1968. His government was very broad-based, including the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, the Finnish People's Democratic League, the Swedish People's Party and the Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders, with over four-fifths of MPs belonging to the governing parties. Koivisto's government implemented some liberal reforms, including the sale of medium-strength beer in grocery stores and kiosks, and elective abortion (allowed also for social reasons, in addition to medical ones). The government helped the Finnish economy to grow by pursuing its predecessor's policies of subsidising export companies and fixed-term public works or government-funded jobs.

Centralized incomes agreements between the employers' organizations, labour unions and government became a part of the Finnish "consensus" (broad agreement) politics. On the other hand, quickly proceeding urbanization and industrialization caused many young people and young adults to leave from the countryside, and tens of thousands of Finns moved to Sweden in pursuit of a higher standard of living. Smallholders were severely affected, particularly in eastern and northern Finland. The populist Finnish Rural Party benefited from this discontent, and its charismatic leader, former Assistant Finance Minister and presidential candidate Veikko Vennamo accused the "old parties" of deliberately worsening the farmers' living standards, emptying the countryside and appeasing the Soviet Union too much by, for example, discouraging its open criticism in the Finnish political debate and media.

The increasing mocking and criticism of Christianity, traditional family values, patriotism, army and military service, and parents' and teachers' authority also helped the Rural Party and the National Coalition Party to score big gains in the elections. The opposition parties were irritated by the student radicals' "conquest" of the Old University Students' House in Helsinki in November 1968. Koivisto's government suffered heavy losses, totalling over 20 MPs, but it still had a majority. President Urho Kekkonen allowed the National Coalition Party's leader Juha Rihtniemi to try to form a new government. He was unable to form a majority government, and Kekkonen refused to allow him to form a minority centre-right government, claiming that such a government would fail in foreign policy (in other words, it would not gain the Soviet Union's trust). From May to July 1970, the Liberal city manager of Helsinki, Teuvo Aura, led a caretaker government. Long-time Foreign Minister Ahti Karjalainen managed to form a new centre-left majority government in July 1970, which excluded the National Coalition Party and Rural Party from power. One notable demographic change of these parliamentary elections was the election of several young (under 30-year-old) MPs reflecting the rising political activity of young Finns (the baby boomers), and the lowering of minimum voting age to 20 years.[2][3][4]

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party594,18523.4352–3
National Coalition Party457,58218.0537+11
Centre Party434,15017.1236–13
Finnish People's Democratic League420,55616.5836–5
Finnish Rural Party265,93910.4918+17
Liberal People's Party150,8235.958–1
Swedish People's Party135,4655.34110
Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders35,4531.400–7
Finnish Christian League28,5471.131+1
Åland Coalition8,9710.3510
Entrepreneur Party2480.010New
Others3,8630.150
Total2,535,782100.002000
Valid votes2,535,78299.66
Invalid/blank votes8,7280.34
Total votes2,544,510100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,094,35982.23
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004,[5] Suomen virallinen tilasto[6]

By electoral district

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Finland's 1970 parliamentary election results service
Electoral district Total
seats
Seats won
SDP Kok Kesk SKDL SMP RKP LKP SKL ÅS
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 11 3 2 3 2 1
Häme 14 5 4 2 2 1
Helsinki 22 6 7 4 3 2
Kymi 15 6 3 2 1 1 1 1
Lapland 9 1 1 3 3 1
North Karelia 8 2 1 2 1 2
North Savo 11 2 2 3 2 2
Oulu 18 2 1 6 5 3 1
Pirkanmaa 13 4 4 1 3 1
Satakunta 13 4 2 2 3 1 1
South Savo 10 3 1 4 1 1
Uusima 20 7 3 2 3 1 3 1
Vaasa 19 3 3 4 2 2 4 1
Varsinais-Suomi 16 4 3 2 4 1 1 1
Total 200 52 37 36 36 18 11 8 1 1
Source: Statistics Finland[7]

References

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  1. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Seppo Zetterberg et al (2003) A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY
  3. ^ Allan Tiitta & Seppo Zetterberg (1992) Finland Through the Ages, Reader's Digest
  4. ^ Johannes Virolainen (1991) The Last Electoral Term, Otava
  5. ^ 595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
  6. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto 29 A, XXXI.
  7. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:31: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1970. Statistics Finland. 1970.