1954 Finnish parliamentary election

1954 Finnish parliamentary election

7–8 March 1954
All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Emil Skog V. J. Sukselainen Kusti Kulo Party SDP Agrarian SKDL Last election 26.52%, 53 seats 23.26%, 51 seats 21.58%, 43 seats Seats won 54 53 43 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 527,094 483,958 433,251 Percentage 26.25% 24.10% 21.57% Swing 0.27pp 0.84pp 0.01pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Arvo Salminen Eino Saari Ralf Törngren Party National Coalition People's RKP Last election 14.57%, 28 seats 5.68%, 10 seats 7.27%, 14 seats Seats won 24 13 12 Seat change 4 3 2 Popular vote 257,025 158,323 135,768 Percentage 12.80% 7.88% 6.76% Swing 1.77pp 2.20pp 0.51pp   Seventh party   Party ÅS Last election 0.31%, 1 seat Seats won 1 Seat change Popular vote 4,651 Percentage 0.23% Swing 0.08pp
Prime Minister before election Sakari Tuomioja Liberal League Prime Minister after election Ralf Törngren RKP

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 7 and 8 March 1954.

Background

In June 1953, Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen had presented a simultaneous deflationary program, which tried to lower wages, prices and public expenditures to the level of the export industry's profitability. Among other proposals, the deflationary program aimed to remove the Finnish parents' family allowances for their first children, reduce income, sales and corporate taxes, cut the interest rate, and reduce wages by 10%. Finance Minister Juho Niukkanen (Agrarian League) presented an austerity budget to Parliament in September 1953, which proposed cutting all major government expenditures by 15%. The Social Democratic Party and People's Party of Finland opposed the austerity budget. Since Parliament refused to approve the government's planned changes to the state-subsidized apartment buildings' and other residences' construction, Kekkonen resigned in November 1953. Despite President Juho Kusti Paasikivi's urgings (in his opinion, Kekkonen was a valuable Prime Minister because he managed Finnish-Soviet relations skilfully), the Social Democrats refused to allow Kekkonen to continue as Prime Minister.

Sakari Tuomioja, a member of the Liberal League who had earlier served in the government, for example as Foreign Minister, and had been Governor of the Bank of Finland since 1945, formed a centre-right caretaker government. Tuomioja's government wanted to keep rationing wages, but wanted to dismantle other types of rationing. Coffee was released from rationing in March 1954. Finnish exports grew, and the government's expenditures increased by over 20% compared to Kekkonen's fourth government's proposal. Various right-wingers and Social Democrats preferred early elections to boost their number of deputies, and to prevent Kekkonen from becoming Prime Minister again. Given President Paasikivi's advanced age (83 years) and close relations with Kekkonen, the latter could well succeed Paasikivi as President, should Paasikivi suddenly die or resign.

The Social Democrats went to the election campaign trail with the lofty slogan: "Kekkonen Kampinkadulle" (lit. Kekkonen Back to Camp Street (Kampinkatu), his home of 25 years before his premiership & which was subsequently renamed after him). To their surprise and to that of right-wingers, the Agrarians gained two seats, while the Social Democrats, National Coalition Party and Swedish People's Party suffered a net loss of four seats. Ralf Törngren of the Swedish People's Party formed a centre-left government in May 1954, with Kekkonen as Foreign Minister. The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions favoured the lowering of living costs, through subsidies, to the start level of the economic stabilization period. The Social Democrats and Agrarians agreed and, dissatisfied with Prime Minister Törngren's economic compromises, caused Törngren to resign and Kekkonen to become Prime Minister for the fifth time in October 1954.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	527,094	26.25	54	+1
	Agrarian League	483,958	24.10	53	+2
	Finnish People's Democratic League	433,251	21.57	43	0
	National Coalition Party	257,025	12.80	24	–4
	People's Party	158,323	7.88	13	+3
	Swedish People's Party	135,768	6.76	12	–2
	Liberal League	6,810	0.34	0	0
	Åland Coalition	4,651	0.23	1	0
	Small Farmers Party	1,040	0.05	0	0
	Others	337	0.02	0	–
Total		2,008,257	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		2,008,257	99.47
Invalid/blank votes		10,785	0.53
Total votes		2,019,042	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,526,969	79.90
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004

By electoral district

Debaters with their assistants at the Finnish Broadcasting Company's radio studio, sitting around a table for an election debate before the 1954 Finnish parliamentary elections

Electoral district	Total seats	Seats won
		SDP	ML	SKDL	Kok	SK	RKP	ÅS
Åland	1							1
Central Finland	12	4	4	2	1	1
Häme	14	5	3	3	2	1
Helsinki	19	6		4	3	3	3
Kymi	15	6	4	2	2	1
Lapland	9	1	4	3	1
North Karelia	11	4	4	2	1
North Savo	13	2	5	4	1	1
North Vaasa	8	1	3	1	1		2
Oulu	18	2	8	6	1	1
Pirkanmaa	13	5	1	4	2	1
Satakunta	14	4	4	3	3
South Savo	12	4	5	1	1	1
South Vaasa	10	1	3	1	2		3
Uusima	15	5	2	3	1	1	3
Varsinais-Suomi	16	4	3	4	2	2	1
Total	200	54	53	43	24	13	12	1
Source: Statistics Finland