1975 Finnish parliamentary election

General election Finland state-1920 parliamentary 1972 Finnish parliamentary election 1972 1979 Finnish parliamentary election 1979 All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 21–22 September 1975 130x130px Rafael-Paasio-1963 (cropped 2).jpg Rafael Paasio Social Democratic Party of Finland 25.78%, 55 seats 54 683,590 24.86% 1 0.92pp File:Ele-Alenius-1970 (cropped).jpg Ele Alenius SKDL 17.02%, 37 seats 40 519,483 18.89% 3 1.87pp JohannesVirolainen1975 (cropped).jpg Johannes Virolainen Centre Party (Finland) 16.41%, 35 seats 39 484,772 17.63% 4 1.22pp Harri-Holkeri-1981 (cropped).jpg Harri Holkeri National Coalition Party 17.59%, 34 seats 35 505,145 18.37% 1 0.78pp C O Tallgren.jpg Carl Olof Tallgren Swedish People's Party of Finland 5.06%, 9 seats 9 128,211 4.66% 0.40pp PekkaTarjanne1970 (cropped).jpg Pekka Tarjanne Liberal People's 5.16%, 7 seats 9 2 119,534 4.35% 0.81pp Raino-Westerholm-1977 (cropped).jpg Raino Westerholm Finnish Christian League 2.53%, 4 seats 9 5 90,599 3.29% 0.76pp Veikko Vennamo in 1967 (cropped).jpg Veikko Vennamo Finnish Rural Party 9.16%, 18 seats 2 16 98,815 3.59% 5.57pp Keijo Liinamaa Prime Minister Independent Prime Minister after election Martti Miettunen Centre Party (Finland) Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 21 and 22 September 1975.Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 978-3-8329-5609-7 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 File:1975 Eduskunta.svg Social Democratic Party 683590 54 –1 Finnish People's Democratic League 519483 40 +3 National Coalition Party 505145 35 +1 Centre Party 484772 39 +4 Swedish People's Party 128211 9 0 Liberal People's Party 119534 9 +2 Finnish Rural Party 98815 2 –16 Finnish Christian League 90599 9 +5 Finnish People's Unity Party 45402 1 New Constitutional People's Party 43344 1 New Party of Finnish Entrepreneurs 11475 0 New Åland Coalition 9482 1 0 Socialist Workers Party 9457 0 New Others 509 0 – 11405 0 3741460 Tilastokeskus 2004,595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004) Suomen virallinen tilastoSuomen virallinen tilasto 29 A, XXXIII By electoral district Electoral districtTotalseatsSeats wonSDPSKDLKeskKokRKPLKPSKLSMPSKYPSPKÅSÅland11Central Finland103232Häme1553241Helsinki216443211Kymi15613311Lapland91341North Karelia831211North Savo1123411Oulu172561111Pirkanmaa1344131Satakunta1343231South Savo93132Uusimaa248425221Vaasa1832523111Varsinais-Suomi164423111Total200544039359992111Source: Statistics FinlandSuomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:33: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1975 Statistics Finland 1976 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.Seppo Zetterberg et al (2003) A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOYRaino Westerholm (1978) Into a Christian Society, KirjayhtymäVeikko Vennamo (1989) As a Prisoner of the Kekkonen Dictatorship, GummerusKimmo Rentola (2005) A Ghost of Revolution: The Left, Belyakov and Kekkonen, OtavaGeorg C. Ehrnrooth (1999) Amid the Crocodiles: Memories from the Cold War Decades, Schildts References Category:Parliamentary elections in Finland Parliament Finland