1991 Finnish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 March 1991, the first time a Finnish parliamentary election had been held on a single day.

For the first time since 1962 the Social Democratic Party was displaced as the largest party in the Eduskunta, with the Centre Party winning 55 seats and forming the first centre-right, non-socialist government since 1964, with Esko Aho as Prime Minister.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Centre Party	676,717	24.8	55	+15
Social Democratic Party	603,080	22.1	48	–8
National Coalition Party	526,487	19.3	40	–13
Left Alliance	274,639	10.1	19	–1
Green League	185,894	6.8	10	+6
Swedish People's Party	149,476	5.5	11	–1
Finnish Rural Party	132,133	4.8	7	–2
Finnish Christian League	83,151	3.1	8	+3
Liberal People's Party	21,210	0.8	1	+1
Women's Party	12,725	0.5	0	New
Pensioners' Party	10,762	0.4	0	0
Åland Coalition	9,344	0.3	1	0
Constitutional Right Party	7,599	0.3	0	0
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism	6,201	0.2	0	New
Independent Non-aligned Pensioners	5,230	0.2	0	New
Greens	3,835	0.1	0	–
Humanity Party	2,831	0.1	0	New
Joint Responsibility Party of Pensioners and the Greens	2,807	0.1	0	New
Others	11,797	0.4	0	–
Invalid/blank votes	51,066	–	–	–
Total	2,776,984	100	200	0
Registered voters/turnout	4,060,778	68.4	–	–
Source: Tilastokeskus

Popular vote KESK   24.83% SDP   22.12% KOK   19.31% VAS   10.08% VIHR   6.82% RKP   5.48% SMP   4.85% SKL   3.05% LKP   0.78% Others   2.68%

Parliament seats KESK   27.50% SDP   24.00% KOK   20.00% VAS   9.50% RKP   5.50% VIHR   5.00% SKL   4.00% SMP   3.50% LKP   0.50% Others   0.50%

Aftermath

The new center-right coalition government would not have an easy time governing the country. The fall of the Soviet Union caused a collapse in trade with the east, which together with a worldwide recession, caused major economic problems including high unemployment and ballooning budget deficits. In response, the government adopted strict austerity measures, such as cuts in public spending, the unpopularity of which led to the government's defeat in the 1995 elections.