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101-534: Support for the party was at its highest in the 1970s and 1980s, with its share of the votes reaching around 10 percent in some parliamentary elections. Between 1983 and 1990, the party took part in two coalition governments. In the 1990s, the party fell into financial trouble and was disbanded in 1995; it was formally dissolved in 2003. It was succeeded by the Finns Party . The founder of the Finnish Rural Party

202-639: A coalition government with the winning National Coalition Party , the Christian Democrats and Swedish People's Party of Finland . The party currently holds seven ministerial portfolios in the Orpo Cabinet . The predecessor of the Finns Party was the Finnish Rural Party (SMP), founded by Agrarian League dissident Veikko Vennamo in 1959. Vennamo ran into serious disagreement with Arvo Korsimo,

303-556: A populist and became a critic of Kekkonen and political corruption within the old parties, particularly the Agrarian League. Although this party had some success, it was essentially tied to Veikko Vennamo's person. His son Pekka Vennamo was able to raise the party to new success and into government in 1983, but after this the Rural Party's support declined steadily and eventually the party went bankrupt in 1995. Immediately after this,

404-661: A "non-socialist workers' party". The party's programme on rural policy also called for state support for rural regions, particularly agriculture, suggesting state subsidies to relieve the effect of structural changes on the rural areas. This policy is shared by the Centre Party in Finland and originates from the agrarian and rural policies of both parties. The Finns Party favours increasing state investments in infrastructure and industry as well. A tendency towards favouring old industrial policies have led some political analysts to label

505-595: A member of the party, served in the European Commission for ten years between 2004 and 2014 and was the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs and the Euro from 2010 to 2014. The Centre Party was the biggest loser of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election , losing 16 seats and going from largest party to fourth place. Its support was lower than in any parliamentary election since 1917 . It won

606-468: A member party of the Centre Party in 1982. The two separated again after the success of the Liberal People's Party in the 1985 Swedish general election . The Centre Party was a key player in making the decision to apply for Finnish EU membership in 1992. As the leading governing party, its support for the application was crucial. The party itself, both leadership and supporters, was far from united on

707-489: A modern society." The Finns Party is opposed to the integration of the European Union and to Finnish Eurozone membership. The party also calls for reductions in foreign aid. The party believes in national sovereignty : [T]he eternal and unlimited right to always decide freely and independently of all of one's affairs lies only and solely with the people, which forms a nation separate of others. Shortly after

808-567: A parallel currency within Finland to initiate phasing out Finnish membership of the Eurozone . Centre Party of Finland The Centre Party , ( Finnish : Suomen Keskusta [ˈsuo̯men ˈkeskustɑ] , Kesk; Swedish : Centern i Finland , C) officially the Centre Party of Finland , is an agrarian-centrist political party in Finland . Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in

909-633: A party leader in August 2021. He was succeeded by MP Riikka Purra on 14 August. Since 2020, further minor splits have emerged within the party, forming the Power Belongs to the People party and Blue-and-Black Movement . During the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election the party finished in second place ahead of the Social Democrats with 20% of the vote and 46 seats, marking the strongest result to date for

1010-443: A scale where 1 was extreme left and 10 was extreme right, the average supporter placed themselves at 5.4. According to the same study, the supporters were united by patriotism and social conservatism . A 2011 study indicated that the Finns Party was the most popular party among voters with an annual income of 35,000–50,000 euros , while over a quarter of the party's voters earn over 50,000 per year. The same study also indicated that

1111-430: A small portion of the votes given to the party come from farmers. As such, the Centre Party draws support from a wide range of professions. Rural Finland and small towns still form the strongest base of support for the party, although it has also strived for a breakthrough in the major southern cities. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election , the party received 4.5% of the votes cast in the capital, Helsinki, compared to

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1212-499: A well known veteran politician Paavo Väyrynen in the voting. The previous chairperson Mari Kiviniemi succeeded Matti Vanhanen as Prime Minister in 2010, serving in the office for one year. At the time, she was the Centre Party’s third Prime Minister of Finland in succession. Anneli Jäätteenmäki preceded Vanhanen, she was also the first woman to be Prime Minister of Finland. She did not seek another term as party chair. Olli Rehn,

1313-412: Is Eurosceptic . The party combines right-wing economic policies and economic nationalism with socially conservative values , and ethnic nationalism . Several scholars have described them as radically right-wing populist . In the parliament seating order, the party was seated in the centre of the plenary until 2019 when it was moved to the right of the plenary despite the party's opposition to

1414-478: Is also divided on the issue of deepening European integration and contains a notable Eurosceptic faction based on its more rural interests. The party expressly rejects a federal Europe . The Centre Party was originally opposed to Finland's membership in the euro currency, but the party later stated that it would not seek to withdraw from the Economic and Monetary Union once Finland had entered. In Finland, there

1515-415: Is no large party that supports liberalism per se . Instead, liberalism is found in most major parties including the Centre Party which supports decentralisation, free will, free and fair trade and small enterprise. The Centre Party characteristically supports decentralisation , particularly the decrease of central power, increase of the power of municipalities and the even population of the country. During

1616-665: Is the policy that is most characteristic of the Centre Party which has been the ruling party in Finland a number of times since Finnish independence . Twelve of the Prime Ministers of Finland , three of the Presidents and a former European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs have been from the party. The Centre Party is the mother organisation of the Finnish Centre Students , the Finnish Centre Youth and

1717-527: The 2007 , the party gained two further seats for a total of five. In the 2008 municipal election , the Finns Party were most successful in those districts where the Social Democrats and the Left Alliance lost most. In the 2011 election , the Centre Party suffered the largest blow from the Finns Party's success. According to a 2008–2009 study, Finns Party supporters viewed themselves as centrist : on

1818-471: The 2014 European Parliament election and increased its number of MEPs to two. In the 2015 election , the Finns Party got 17.7% of the votes and 38 seats. This meant that they were the third largest party by votes but the second largest party by seats. The Finns Party subsequently entered into a coalition government with the Centre Party and the NCP, led by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä . The party's participation in

1919-581: The 2015 Finnish parliamentary election and formed a coalition with the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party . In March 2016, the Centre Party announced that its candidate for the 2018 Finnish presidential election would be the former Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, the first declared presidential candidate in the race. The Centre Party was again the biggest loser in the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election , losing 18 seats and going from largest party to fourth place. The party's support

2020-590: The 2018 presidential election . In the election, Huhtasaari placed third with 6.9 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term with a majority of votes. At the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election , the Finns Party finished in second place and increased its number of MPs to 39 (with its strongest result being in Satakunta ) while the breakaway Blue Reform party lost all of its seats. On 21 June 2021, Jussi Halla-aho announced that he would retire from his position as

2121-533: The Eurozone . In its latest platform, the Finns Party states that it supports a "European policy" based on appreciation for Western and Christian shaped values. The party argues that Finland is needed in the European Parliament to defend Finnish interests in the short-term, but states the "long-term strategic goal" is to take gradual steps to withdraw Finland from the European Union and proposes introducing

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2222-536: The Finnish Centre Women  [ fi ] . The party was founded in 1906 as a movement of citizens in the Finnish countryside. Before Finnish independence, political power in Finland was centralised in the capital and to the estates of the realm . The centralisation gave space for a new political movement. In 1906, two agrarian movements were founded. They merged in 1908 to become one political party known as

2323-515: The Finnish People's Democratic League until the 1980s. Urho Kekkonen served as President of Finland from 1956 to 1982, by far the longest period of any president. The name Centre Party was adopted in 1965 and Centre of Finland in 1988. The Centre Party was the largest party in Parliament from 2003 to 2011, during which time Matti Vanhanen was prime minister for seven years. By 2011 , the party

2424-573: The Paris Agreement , signed in December 2015, saying it was "catastrophic" for the economy, and demanded that the private sector and taxpayers be spared its "disastrous economic consequences". The Finns Party rejects the existence of nonbinary genders , and opposes same-sex marriage , same-sex adoption and in vitro fertilisation given to same-sex couples and single women. The party supports teaching "healthy national pride" in schools, because

2525-730: The Sipilä Cabinet marked a softening of its Eurosceptic positions. On 22 June 2016, Finns Party MP Maria Tolppanen joined the Social Democrats, after which the Finns Party had 37 seats in the parliament. In March 2017, Soini announced that he would step down as party chair in the next party congress in June. In June 2017, Jussi Halla-aho and Sampo Terho faced off in the leadership election , in which Halla-aho received 949 votes against Terho's 646 votes and thus succeeded Soini as party chair. Sipilä and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo soon announced that they would not continue their coalition with

2626-520: The True Finns , is a right-wing populist political party in Finland . It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party . The party achieved its electoral breakthrough in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election , when it won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party in the Parliament of Finland . In the 2015 election the party got 17.7% of the votes, making it

2727-522: The Warsaw Pact . Veikko Vennamo , a vocal agrarian politician, ran into serious disagreement particularly with the then-Party Secretary of the Agrarian Party Arvo Korsimo, who was excluded from the parliamentary group. As a result, Vennamo immediately started building his own organisation in 1959 and founded a new party, the Finnish Rural Party ( Suomen maaseudun puolue , SMP). Vennamo was

2828-446: The centre of the political spectrum. It has been described as liberal , social-liberal , liberal-conservative , and conservative-liberal . The party’s leader is Antti Kaikkonen , who was elected in June 2024 to succeed former minister Annika Saarikko . As of June 2023, the party has been a part of the parliamentary opposition. Founded in 1906 as the Agrarian League (Finnish: Maalaisliitto ; Swedish: Agrarförbundet ),

2929-413: The right-wing populist Finns Party ( Perussuomalaiset ) was founded by former members of SMP. In 1965, the party changed its name to the Centre Party ( Keskustapuolue ) and in 1988 took its current Centre Party of Finland name ( Suomen Keskusta ). Despite urbanisation of Finland and a temporary nadir in support, the party managed to continue to attract voters. The Liberal People's Party (LKP) became

3030-487: The 2011 election: in one opinion poll from June 2011 gave the party a record popularity of 23 percent. The party's membership rose to over 8,000 members by 2013 (up from circa 5,500 in 2011 and circa 1,000 in 2005 ). Membership in the party's youth organisation rose as well, going from 800 before the 2011 election to over 2,200 in 2013. The party nominated Soini as its candidate for the 2012 presidential election; Soini finished fourth with 9.4 percent. Soini interpreted

3131-500: The 33.4% in the largely rural electoral district of Oulu . In the organisation of the Centre Party, local associations dominate the election of party leaders, the selection of local candidates and drafting of policy. The headquarters in Apollonkatu, Helsinki leads financing and organisation of elections. The party has 2,500 local associations which have 160,000 individual members. The local associations elect their representatives to

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3232-508: The Agrarian League claiming, that the party secretary of the Agrarian League, Arvo Korsimo , did not meet the traditional moral values and did not appreciate chastity. The only member supporting Ojalehto's claim was Vennamo. Vennamo was not allowed to take part in party the parliamentary group of the Agragian League in the parliament of Finland for a set period of time in 1958. Small Peasants' Party of Finland (Suomen Pientalonpoikien Puolue)

3333-403: The Agrarian League or Maalaisliitto . An older, related movement was the temperance movement which had overlapping membership and gave future to Agrarian League activists experience in working in an organisation. Soon the ideas of humanity, education, the spirit of the land, peasant-like freedom, decentralisation , "the issue of poor people", progressivism and later the "green wave" became

3434-436: The Agrarian League's party secretary , and was excluded from the parliamentary group . As a result, Vennamo immediately started building his own organization and founded the Finnish Rural Party. Vennamo was a populist and became a critic of President Urho Kekkonen and of political corruption within the "old parties", particularly the Centre Party (the renamed Agrarian League). The Rural Party achieved two major victories in

3535-408: The Agrarian League's strong man Urho Kekkonen were icy at best, and after Kekkonen was elected president in 1956 Vennamo ran into serious disagreement with the party secretary, Arvo Korsimo, and was excluded from the parliamentary group. As a result, he immediately founded his own party in 1959. In December 1957, Mr. Paavo Ojalehto from Northern Finland wrote a letter to the board of the members of

3636-571: The European Parliament in 2009, it became a founding member of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD) in the Parliament. After the 2014 election, the party chose to leave the EFD to join the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). Commenting on the party's choice of group, party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo said in 2014 that joining a right-wing parliamentary group would not change

3737-438: The Finnish parliament (which has 200 seats) in the 1970 election. The party got exactly the same amount of MPs in the next election in 1972, but was soon afterwards split in two as a majority of the parliamentary group, 12 members, resigned to establish a new party called the Finnish People's Unity Party ( Suomen Kansan Yhtenäisyyden Puolue , SKYP). The party defectors accused Vennamo of autocratic leadership, while Vennamo accused

3838-409: The Finnish parliament in the 2011 election. Soini was the party's presidential candidate for a second time in the election of 2012 . Jussi Halla-aho succeeded Soini as party chair in 2017. The Finns Party obtained 39 seats in the 2011 election, making them the third largest party, narrowly behind the National Coalition Party (44) and the Social Democrats (42). Soini received 43,212 personal votes,

3939-552: The Finns Party as a centre-left party. The Finns Party aspires to energy self-reliance and supports nuclear energy . The party calls for a pro-industry environmental policy, opposing green tax reform and taxpayers' involvement in emission trading funds. The party strongly supports the peat industry, which produces massive amounts of greenhouse gases , having even proposed exempting this production from any tax. The party generally scores best in municipalities whose economies are tied to this industry. The party has strongly denounced

4040-415: The Finns Party if it was led by Halla-aho. Subsequently, twenty Finns Party MPs, including Soini and Terho, defected to form a new parliamentary group under the name New Alternative, later renamed to Blue Reform and after that, in 2022, into Finnish Reform Movement . As all cabinet ministers were among the defectors, the then Blue Reform made an agreement with Sipilä to stay in the government. Following

4141-404: The Finns Party vehemently opposed during the electoral campaign, the party voluntarily broke from the negotiations to become the leading opposition party. Soini said that the party would not compromise its core principles just to enter the government. According to an opinion poll, most of the party's supporters accepted this decision. The Finns Party's popularity initially continued to rise after

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4242-456: The Finns Party's 70-page programme for the 2011 election, Mikko Lahtinen, political scientist in the University of Tampere , and Markku Hyrkkänen, historian of ideas in the University of Turku , note that nationalism is a theme consistently repeated throughout the programme. According to them, the party presents populism as a noble ideology, which seeks to empower the people. Lahtinen describes

4343-451: The Finns combine elements of both right-wing and left-wing politics along with populist rhetoric. In the party's 2011 programme, the Finns Party advocated a more progressive taxation system and support for the welfare state. The party opposed the establishment of a flat tax and called for the raising of the capital gains tax and the re-institution of the wealth tax . According to the party,

4444-475: The Parliament. The Agrarian League managed to maintain the republican voices in the Parliament until the fall of the German Empire which ruined the dreams of the monarchists. The relentless opposition to the monarchy was rewarded in the 1919 Finnish parliamentary election and the party became the biggest non- socialist party in Finland with 19.7% of the votes. After the 1919 Finnish parliamentary election,

4545-956: The Patriotic Electoral Alliance (the National Coalition Party and the Patriotic People's Movement) and the Legality Front (the Social Democrats , the Agrarian League, the Swedish People's Party and the Progressives ). The Patriotic Electoral Alliance favoured continuing the search for suspected communists, the Communist Party and its affiliated organisations in the spirit of the Lapua Movement. The Legality Front did not want to spend any significant time on searching suspected communists but rather wanted to concentrate on keeping

4646-450: The Rural Party of Finland, including Timo Soini and Raimo Vistbacka , established the Finns Party . The decision to establish this new party was made in a sauna in the village of Kalmari in the town of Saarijärvi . The party held anti-establishment or anti-elite views, and criticized other politicians and parties, the government, "bureaucrats", international corporations, academics, cultural elites and corruption, while idealizing

4747-494: The ability to appeal to common people and make complicated things look easy. The election result was also referred to as "shocking" and "exceptional". After the election, the National Coalition Party (NCP) began negotiations aiming to form a cabinet between the NCP, the Social Democrats, and the Finns Party. However, when it became clear that the NCP and the Social Democrats would continue to support EU bailouts, which

4848-416: The centrist and progressive forces, including the Agrarian League, were constant members in Finnish governments. Their moderate attitude in restless post-war Finland secured a steady growth in following elections. The party formed many centrist minority governments with National Progressive Party and got its first Prime Ministers ( Kyösti Kallio in 1922 and Juho Sunila in 1927). For the Agrarian League,

4949-565: The centrist governments were just a transitional period toward an era which would integrate the red and white sides of the Civil War into one nation. Nevertheless, not everyone was happy with the conciliatory politics of centrist governments. The extreme right Lapua Movement grew bigger and bigger in the Agrarian League strongholds in the countryside. Many party members joined the new radical movement. The Lapua Movement organised assaults and kidnappings in Finland between 1929 and 1932. In 1930, after

5050-458: The defectors of having been bought off with parliamentary party subsidies. Veikko Vennamo's son, Pekka Vennamo , became the party leader when his father retired in the 1980s. Vennamo Junior had neither the charisma nor the oratorical skills of his father. Other parties noticed this, and the Rural Party was taken into the cabinet in 1983. As a protest movement without a charismatic leader, burdened with ministers participating in unpopular coalitions,

5151-480: The eastern part of the country). Allowance regarding the use of the Swedish language and its teaching will have to be made for those communes where Swedish-speaking populations are in the majority or a large percentage of the population – Swedish is one of Finland's national languages. The cultural program of the Finns Party, which proposed subsidizing traditional art over postmodern art , prompted criticism from outside

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5252-470: The economic situation); and granting the Finnish nationality after five years of residence in Finland, provided the immigrant masters Finnish, has no criminal record, and has means of subsistence. The party also requires that immigrants accept Finnish sociocultural norms . The only written declaration to the European Parliament made by a True Finns' MEP also concerns immigration matters. The party underlines

5353-436: The elections of 1970 and 1983 , winning 18 and 17 seats, respectively. In the 1970s, Vennamo's personalized leadership style alienated some in the party, which led to a split in the parliamentary group in 1972. After the Rural Party's new rise in 1983 under Vennamo's son Pekka, the party became a partner in two coalition governments . However, the party's support declined steadily in the late-1980s and early-1990s. In 1995 ,

5454-491: The emigration to Sweden . The Small Peasants Party of Finland emphasized its position of defending the small peasants agriculture on its behalf. In 1966, the party was renamed The Rural Party of Finland. The Finnish Rural Party started as a protest movement, with support from the unemployed and small farmers. The state-sponsored resettlement of veterans of World War II and evacuees from ceded Karelia into independent small farms provided an independent power base to Vennamo, who

5555-477: The existence of the party. Because around forty Social Democratic members of the Parliament had escaped to Russia after the Finnish Civil War and about fifty others had been arrested, the Agrarian League members of the Parliament became the only republicans in Parliament in 1918. Nevertheless, the news about the problems of the German Empire from German liberals encouraged the fight of Agrarian League in

5656-410: The far-right in check. The Legality Front won the elections, but the Agrarian League lost a part of its support. Because of fierce opposition of the president Pehr Evind Svinhufvud , the Social Democrats remained outside the government and the Agrarian League was part of the centre-right governments until 1937. In the 1937 Finnish presidential election , the Agrarian League candidate Kyösti Kallio

5757-482: The government coalition, while the Finns Party went into opposition. The party, having been reduced to 17 seats after the split, increased its representation to 39 seats in the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election , while Blue Reform failed to win any seats. During the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election , the Finns Party finished in second place with 46 seats, recording their strongest result since its founding. They then, out of Petteri Orpo ’s request, proceeded to form

5858-617: The highest number of all candidates, leaving behind the Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and the Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen in their Uusimaa electoral district. The popularity of the party rose from 4.1% to 19.1% in just four years. Helsingin Sanomat wrote in an editorial that the party and Soini had "rewritten the electoral history books". According to political analyst Jan Sundberg , Soini had

5959-482: The internal resistance that opposed chairperson Aho's ambitions to lead Finland into the EU. The Centre Party was in opposition from 1995 to 2003 and opposed adopting the euro as Finland's currency. The party accepted the euro after regaining power in 2003. The party congress in June 2012 elected the newcomer Juha Sipilä to replace Mari Kiviniemi as the party's chair. Sipilä defeated young deputy chairperson Tuomo Puumala and

6060-469: The issue. In the Parliament, 22 out of 55 Centre MPs voted against the application. In June 1994, the party congress decided to support EU membership (by 1607 votes to 834), but only after the Prime Minister and Party Chair Esko Aho threatened to resign if the party were to oppose the membership. The centrist tradition of defending equal political and economic rights for peripheral areas was reflected in

6161-476: The kidnapping of progressive president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg , the Agrarian League broke off all its ties to the movement and got a new political enemy in the countryside, the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) which was founded after the Lapua Movement was outlawed. In the 1933 Finnish parliamentary election , the main campaign issues were the differing attitudes toward democracy and the rule of law between

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6262-525: The leadership election of Jussi Halla-aho , the party hardened its position towards the European Union. In 2017, Laura Huhtasaari stated that she would support leaving the EU should she win the 2018 Finnish presidential election citing the growth of the Union's power at the expense of the member states. Other party members have supported the idea of Finland withdrawing from both the Schengen Agreement and

6363-408: The left-wing brand to the Finns Party. During the electoral campaign in 2011 Soini stated that he preferred the Social Democrats over the centre-right National Coalition Party as a possible coalition partner in a future cabinet. Soini has stated that the Finns are a "workers' party without socialism". A researcher for the opinion polling company Taloustutkimus agreed, describing the Finns Party as

6464-567: The main decision-making body between the party congresses. The party council elects the party government (excluding the leaders elected by the party congress) and the working committee. The party council, the party government and the Working Committee must have at least 40% representation of both sexes. The Finnish Centre Students , the Finnish Centre Women  [ fi ] and the Finnish Centre Youth have their own local and regional organisations which also name their representatives to

6565-614: The main political phrases used to describe the ideology of the party. Santeri Alkio was the most important ideological father of the party. At the dawn of Finnish independence, conservative social forces made an attempt to establish the Kingdom of Finland . The Agrarian League opposed monarchism fiercely, even though monarchists claimed that a new king from the German Empire and Hohenzollern would have safeguarded Finnish foreign relations. At this time, anti- anarchist peasants threatened

6666-533: The move. Some of the party's supporters have described themselves as centrists. The party has drawn people from left-wing parties but central aspects of their manifesto have gained support from right-wing voters as well. The Finns Party has been compared by international media to the other Nordic populist parties and other similar nationalist and right-wing populist movements in Europe. It also calls for austerity policies to curb deficit spending. In evaluating

6767-584: The ordinary people and small-time entrepreneurs of the countryside. Vennamo attacked, for example, other members of the parliament for over-claiming daily allowances. The party was also anti-communist , and claimed established parties and the political leadership were too subservient to the Soviet Union . Vennamo was known for inventing and using pejorative terms, such as rötösherrat , referring to allegedly corrupt politicians, and teoriaherrat , referring to academics allegedly lacking common sense. A slogan used by

6868-412: The parliament's second-largest political party. The party was in opposition for the first 20 years of its existence. In 2015, it joined the coalition government formed by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä . Following a 2017 split, over half of the party's MPs left the parliamentary group and were subsequently expelled from their membership in the party. This defector group, Blue Reform , continued to support

6969-403: The party and generated debate within the party as well. Some critics of the policy called it overtly populist or said that the state should not interfere with the content of art. A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat at the time of the controversy found that a majority of Finns, 51%, agreed with the party's stance on ending subsidies for postmodern art. Regarding immigration policy ,

7070-506: The party called for a prohibition on wearing the burqa and the niqāb in public. Timo Soini signed a pan-European charter against racism in 1998. However, in 2009, before the European Parliament election, Soini refused to sign an anti-racism appeal, saying that the appeal was an attempt to influence the party's choice of candidates (the appeal was drawn up by another political party). All other Finnish parties signed this appeal against racism. In May 2011, following controversies surrounding

7171-399: The party congress which elects the party leadership and decide on policy. The local associations form also 21 regional organisations which have also their representatives in the party congress. The party congress is the highest decision-making body of the party. It elects the chairperson, three deputy chairs, the secretary-general and the party council. With 135 members, the party council is

7272-785: The party congress. The party is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and subscribes to the liberal manifestos of these organisations. The Centre Party has been a full member of the Liberal International since 1988, having first joined as an observer member in 1983. In the European Parliament , the Center Party sits in the Renew Europe group with two MEPs. In

7373-468: The party evolved from agrarian roots. The party has a more conservative wing, and prominent conservatives within the party such as Paavo Väyrynen have criticised overt economic and cultural liberalism . In addition, the 2010 party congress voted to oppose same-sex marriage . When the Finnish Parliament voted on same-sex marriage in 2014, 30 of the 36 Centre MPs voted against it. The party

7474-480: The party gradually lost political support. Agricultural changes proved hard for small farmers, who sold their farms and moved to the cities. The Social Democratic Party was seen as a more credible alternative for the unemployed. Finally, the declining support of the Rural Party forced Vennamo Junior to resign. Some of the party's former MPs joined the Centre Party or retired with Vennamo. The party's last chairman and MP Raimo Vistbacka (the only one elected in 1995)

7575-469: The party represented rural communities and supported decentralisation of political power from Helsinki . In the 1920s, the party emerged as the main rival to the SDP and Kyösti Kallio , the party's first prime minister, held the office four times between 1922 and 1937. After World War II , the party settled as one of the four major political parties in Finland, alongside the SDP, the National Coalition Party and

7676-439: The party was Kyllä kansa tietää! ("The people do know!"). The party professed to hold traditional Christian values, and, for example, opposed the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1971. Racism and xenophobia were not visibly part of the party's ideology. Finns Party The Finns Party , ( Finnish : Perussuomalaiset , PS ; Swedish : Sannfinländarna , Sannf ) formerly known as

7777-447: The party won only one seat in the Finnish parliament and soon filed for bankruptcy. In the summer of 1995, following the collapse of the Finnish Rural Party, the decision to found the Finns Party was made by Timo Soini , Raimo Vistbacka , Urpo Leppänen and Kari Bärlund. Soini had been the Rural Party's last party secretary and Vistbacka its last chair and MP . The party collected the five thousand signatures needed for registration and

7878-527: The party's 2011 manifesto emphasises welcoming work-based immigration, provided the immigrants pay taxes and abide by Finnish labour laws ; deporting immigrants guilty of serious or recurrent crimes or those that do not meet the Immigration laws; limiting family reunification to proven direct relatives only, and requiring means of subsistence from the immigrant; limiting humanitarian immigration strictly to refugee quotas (which should be adapted to correspond with

7979-586: The party's characteristic of being a "centre-left workers' party". After the 2019 election, the party joined the Identity and Democracy Group; however, this decision was reverted after the 2023 parliamentary election, with the Finns Party rejoining the ECR after a four-year break. Ideologically, the Finns Party has been described as right-wing and far-right . It is a nationalist and national-conservative party that opposes immigration , while on foreign stances it

8080-438: The party's premierships between 2003 and 2011, these policies were also manifested as transferrals of certain government agencies from the capital to smaller cities in the regions. Throughout the period of Finland's independence, the Centre Party has been the party most often represented in the government. The country's longest-serving President, Urho Kekkonen , was a member of the party as were two other Presidents. Today, only

8181-455: The party's voters included a higher percentage of blue-collar workers than those of the Social Democrats. Timo Soini led the Finns Party for twenty years, from 1997 until 2017. He was first elected to the parliament in 2003. He was the party's candidate in the 2006 presidential election , and was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 with the highest personal vote share in the country. He served as an MEP for two years, returning to

8282-425: The party. In April 2023, National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo announced his attention to form a governing coalition with the Finns Party, Swedish People's Party , and the Christian Democrats . In the Orpo Cabinet , the Finns have seven ministers out of 19. Former party leader Jussi Halla-aho was elected Speaker of the Parliament of Finland . When the Finns Party first gained representation in

8383-537: The remarks of the Finns Party's MP Teuvo Hakkarainen , the Finns Party's parliamentary group issued a statement condemning all racism and discrimination, including affirmative action . The party invited other parties to sign the statement as well, but no other party did so. In December 2011, an opinion poll revealed 51% of Finns Party voters agreed with the statement, "Joihinkin rotuihin kuuluvat ihmiset eivät kerta kaikkiaan sovi asumaan moderniin yhteiskuntaan;" "People of certain races are unable to live within (fit into)

8484-469: The result by saying that half of the party's voters wanted him for president, while the other half wanted to him to remain as party chair. In municipal elections later in 2012 , the party got 12.3 percent of votes and 1,195 seats in the municipal councils, up more than 750 from the previous municipal election. However, this result saw the votes for the party shrink significantly from the 2011 parliamentary election result. The party got 12.9 percent of votes in

8585-416: The rhetoric used in the program as a refreshing change to the politically correct "jargon" of mainstream media, and believes that the Finns Party may have succeeded in gaining supporters from the traditional left-wing parties by presenting a more attractive form of criticism of neoliberalism than those parties. Ville Pernaa, political scientist, described the party's 2015 electoral program by stating that

8686-490: The role of national sovereignty in immigration issues: [True] Finnish immigration policy should be based on the fact that the Finns should always be able to decide for themselves the conditions under which a foreigner can come to our country and reside in our country. In 2015, the party's immigration programme included demands like lowering the refugee quota, tightening the conditions of family unification, ending affirmative action , outlawing begging in public places, opposing

8787-461: The spirit of the land, peasant-like freedom, decentralisation , "the issue of poor people", environmentalism and progressivism play a key role in Centre Party politician speeches and writings. From the very beginning of its presence, the party has supported the idea of decentralisation. Despite belonging to the Liberal International, the Centre Party does not play quite the same role in Finnish politics as do liberal parties in other countries because

8888-467: The split, MPs Veera Ruoho and Arja Juvonen left the Finns Party parliamentary group to continue as independents , after which the party's seats were reduced to fifteen. All of the defecting MPs were subsequently expelled from the Finns Party. In the following weeks, MPs Ritva Elomaa and Arja Juvonen regretted their decision and re-joined the party, raising the amount of MPs to seventeen. The party nominated MP Laura Huhtasaari as its candidate for

8989-522: The unity of citizens is the basis of society, and wants to promote support for cultural activities that "promote Finnish identity". The party also calls for the removal of the obligatory character of the second official language (Swedish in Finnish-language schools and vice versa) in curriculums on all levels of education, freeing up time for the learning of other foreign languages such as English, German, French, Spanish and Russian (especially in

9090-584: The use of public funds to advance multiculturalism , opposition to the planned burden-sharing mechanisms of the Common European Asylum Policy, making sure that immigrants living on welfare benefits are not concentrated in the same areas and only allowing the immigration of workers from outside the EU and EEA if they are found to be necessary in a given field in a means test by the Finnish Labour Office. In their 2019 election manifesto,

9191-512: The war. In 1956, Urho Kekkonen , the candidate of the Agrarian League, was elected President of Finland after serving as prime minister several times and remained president until 1982. Kekkonen continued the active neutrality policy of his predecessor Juho Kusti Paasikivi , a doctrine which came to be known as the Paasikivi–Kekkonen line . Under it, Finland retained its independence while being able to trade with NATO members and those of

9292-438: The willingness to pay taxes is best guaranteed by a society unified by correct social policies – the electoral program warns against individualist policies, which weaken the solidarity among citizens. "The willingness to pay taxes is guaranteed by having a unified people", the program reads (p. 46). Some observers compared the Finns Party's fiscal policies to the old national Social Democratic taxation policy, which has given

9393-507: Was Veikko Vennamo , leader of a faction in the Agrarian League (which was renamed Centre Party in 1965). Vennamo resided as the head of The Department of Housing and Land Reform with relations to the Karelian refugees after the Continuation war . His schism with his own party had started when V. J. Sukselainen was elected the chairman of the Agrarian League. The relations between Vennamo and

9494-519: Was added to the official party register on 13 October 1995. The first party congress was held in November. Vistbacka was elected party chair and Soini the party secretary. It took some time before the Finns Party gained ground in Finnish elections. At the time of its founding in 1995, the party's sole MP was Vistbacka, who was reelected in the 1999 election . In 2003 , the party won three seats: besides Vistbacka, Soini and Tony Halme were elected. In

9595-443: Was among the founders of the Finns Party and became that party's first MP and chairman. The Rural Party's last party secretary Timo Soini likewise became the Finns Party's first party secretary. With the Finns Party's electoral success in the 2011 election three former Rural Party MPs returned to the parliament as Finns Party MPs (Anssi Joutsenlahti, Lea Mäkipää, Pentti Kettunen). It declared bankruptcy in 2003. Four supporters of

9696-451: Was elected as the leader of the Centre Party to replace Katri Kulmuni . During late 2022, The Centre Party was polling at its lowest record in support in polls with less than 10% support. The ideology of the party is unusual in the European context. Unlike many other large parties in Europe, its ideology is not primarily based on economic systems. Rather, the ideas of humanity, education,

9797-462: Was elected president with the votes of centrist (Agrarian and Progressive) and social-democratic coalition which wanted to ensure that President Svinhufvud would not be re-elected. The new president allowed the first centre-left government to be formed in Finland and a new era had begun. With the outbreak of the Winter War, a government of national unity was formed. President Kallio died shortly after

9898-501: Was even lower than in 2011. Due to the devastating defeat, Sipilä consequently announced that he would continue as the party chair only until the Centre Party's next convention in September 2019. The party congress in September 2019 elected the Minister of Economic Affairs Katri Kulmuni to replace Sipilä as the party's chair. On 5 September 2020, during a party congress, Annika Saarikko

9999-429: Was nationally well known, having served as director of the government resettlement agency since the end of the war. Vennamo was the honorary chairman of Asutusliitto , the resettler society, and the society was involved in early campaigning. For the newly founded party, the main carrying force was Vennamo, who was charismatic, a good orator and a skilled negotiator. The Rural Party won in its best showing with 18 seats in

10100-425: Was reduced in parliamentary representation from the largest party to the fourth largest, but it reclaimed its status as the largest party in 2015 . In 2019 , it suffered a considerable defeat, losing 18 of 49 seats. As a Nordic agrarian party , the Centre Party's political influence is greatest in small and rural municipalities, where it often holds a majority of the seats in the municipal councils. Decentralisation

10201-450: Was registered in the end of 1958. The only MP of the party was Vennamo. The founders of the party were members of the Agrarian League. As Johannes Virolainen succeeded Sukselainen as the chairman of the Agrarian League and had the name of the Agrarian League changed to Center Party (Keskustapuolue) in 1965 to meet better the needs of the sons and daughters of the farmers, who sought work in the cities, towns and boroughs as an alternative to

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