1937 Finnish presidential election

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1937. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college.[1] They in turn elected the President. Whilst Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg was one vote short of winning on the first ballot, the result was a victory for Kyösti Kallio, who won on the second ballot.[2] The turnout for the popular vote was 57.8%.[3]

1937 Finnish presidential election

15–16 January 1937

Nominee Kyösti Kallio Pehr Evind Svinhufvud Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg Party Agrarian National Coalition National Progressive Electoral vote 177 104 19 Popular vote 184,668 240,602 141,897

President before election Pehr Evind Svinhufvud National Coalition Elected President Kyösti Kallio Agrarian

Background

The issues the election campaign was fought on included President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud's refusal in September and October 1936 to allow the Social Democrats - then clearly the largest political party in Finland - to enter the government, Prime Minister Kallio's moderate and conciliatory attitude towards the Social Democrats, former President Ståhlberg's second attempt to regain power, and the distribution of the new Finnish economic prosperity among the various social classes, especially labourers and peasants.

Almost one-third of the electors originally supported the Social Democratic candidate, Väinö Tanner, whose supporters conceded that he had no chance of being elected in the bourgeois Finland, but emphasized that his electors could probably decide who would win the presidency. President Svinhufvud also had almost one-third of the electors behind him (including the right-wing electors of the Swedish People's Party), while both Kallio and Ståhlberg each had just under one-fifth of the electors supporting them. However, Kallio had the fewest uncompromising opponents in the Electoral College. This made him easily the second-best choice (after Ståhlberg) for the Social Democrats and the moderate supporters of Ståhlberg. Thus Kallio won the presidency clearly on the second ballot. Kallio's victory was helped also by the fact that the ideological quarrels in Finland had calmed down considerably since the early and mid-1930s, given Finland's rising prosperity, the gradually increasing Agrarian-Social Democratic co-operation, and the far right's decreasing support.[4][5][6][7][8]

Results

Popular vote

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Social Democratic Party	341,408	30.7	95
General electoral alliance for Svinhufvud	240,602	21.6	63
Supporters of Kallio	184,668	16.6	56
General electoral alliance for Ståhlberg	141,897	12.8	36
Swedish People's Party	102,250	9.2	25
Patriotic People's Movement	90,378	8.1	23
Swedish Left	10,743	1.0	2
Others	700	0.1	0
Invalid/blank votes	3,058	–	–
Total	1,115,704	100	300
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college

Candidate	Party	First ballot		Second ballot
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg	National Progressive Party	150	50.0	19	6.3
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud	National Coalition Party	94	31.3	104	34.7
Kyösti Kallio	Agrarian League	56	18.7	177	59.0
Total		300	100	300	100
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p628
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p623
4. Seppo Zetterberg et al (2003) A Small Giant of Finnish History, WSOY, pp653–654
5. Pentti Virrankoski (2009) A History of Finland, Finnish Literature Society, pp823–824
6. Sakari Virkkunen (1994) Finland's Presidents I, Otava, pp201, 211–212
7. Kari Hokkanen (1986) Kyösti Kallio II, WSOY
8. Sakari Virkkunen (1994) Finland's Presidents II