2015 Finnish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 19 April 2015,[1] with advance voting taking place from 8 to 14 April.[2] The 200 members of eduskunta were elected with the proportional D'Hondt method.

2015 Finnish parliamentary election

19 April 2015
All 200 seats in Parliament 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	70.1%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juha Sipilä Timo Soini Alexander Stubb Party Centre Finns National Coalition Leader since 2012 1997 2014 Last election 35 seats, 15.8% 39 seats, 19.1% 44 seats, 20.4% Seats won 49 38 37 Seat change 14 1 7 Popular vote 626,218 524,054 540,212 Percentage 21.1% 17.7% 18.2% Swing 5.3pp 1.4pp 2.2pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Antti Rinne Ville Niinistö Paavo Arhinmäki Party Social Democratic Green League Left Alliance Leader since 2014 2011 2009 Last election 42 seats, 19.1% 10 seats, 7.3% 14 seats, 8.1% Seats won 34 15 12 Seat change 8 5 2 Popular vote 490,102 253,102 211,702 Percentage 16.5% 8.5% 7.1% Swing 2.6pp 1.3pp 1.0pp   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Carl Haglund Päivi Räsänen Mats Löfström Party Swedish People's Christian Democrat Åland Coalition Leader since 2012 2004 Last election 9 seats, 4.3% 6 seats, 4.0% 1 seat, 0.3% Seats won 9 5 1 Seat change 0 1 0 Popular vote 144,802 105,134 10,910 Percentage 4.9% 3.5% 0.4% Swing 0.6pp 0.5pp 0.0pp
Prime Minister before election Alexander Stubb National Coalition Elected Prime Minister Juha Sipilä Centre

There were 4,463,333 people entitled to vote in Finland and abroad.[3]

Background

Previous government coalition

The incumbent government was formed by a four party coalition, composed of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats as well as the MP for Åland. Left Alliance and the Green League were initially also part of the governing coalition, but both left in 2014.

On 22 June 2011, the parliament elected Jyrki Katainen as prime minister by a vote of 118–72; two Left Alliance MPs voted against Katainen, for which they were formally reprimanded by the Left Alliance parliamentary group. They were subsequently expelled from the group, reducing the government majority from 126 MPs to 124. In March 2014 the Left Alliance announced that it was leaving the cabinet, citing the party's opposition to budget cuts in social welfare programs, which had been agreed to by the other five parties.[4] This reduced the government's majority to 112 MPs.

In April 2014 Jyrki Katainen announced that he would not seek another term as the chairman of the National Coalition Party. The NCP chose Alexander Stubb as its new chairman in June, and he subsequently became the new Prime Minister. In September 2014 the Green League announced that it was leaving the cabinet. The Greens were opposed to the other governing parties' decision to grant Fennovoima a licence for building a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki.[5] The Greens' departure cut the government's majority to 102 MPs (including the Speaker of the Parliament, who does not vote).[6]

Electoral district changes

Electoral districts in the 2015 election

In 2013 the parliament decided to merge certain electoral districts to create larger districts: the electoral districts of Northern Savonia and North Karelia have been merged into a new district called Savonia-Karelia, while the electoral districts of Kymi and Southern Savonia have been merged into a new district called South-Eastern Finland.[7]

Electoral district	Seats
01 Helsinki	22
02 Uusimaa	35
03 Finland Proper	17
04 Satakunta	8
05 Åland	1
06 Tavastia	14
07 Pirkanmaa	19
08 South-East Finland	17
09 Savonia-Karelia	16
10 Vaasa	16
11 Central Finland	10
12 Oulu	18
13 Lapland	7

Opinion polls

Taloustutkimus opinion polling since 2011 election.

Results

Largest party by municipality:

  Centre Party

  Finns Party

  National Coalition Party

  Social Democratic Party

  Left Alliance

  Swedish People's Party

  Åland Coalition

  Christian Democrats

Largest party by electoral district:[8]

  National Coalition Party

  Finns Party

  Centre Party

  Social Democratic Party

  Åland Coalition

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Centre Party	626,218	21.10	49	+14
	Finns Party	524,054	17.65	38	−1
	National Coalition Party	540,212	18.20	37	−7
	Social Democratic Party	490,102	16.51	34	−8
	Green League	253,102	8.53	15	+5
	Left Alliance	211,702	7.13	12	−2
	Swedish People's Party of Finland	144,802	4.88	9	0
	Christian Democrats	105,134	3.54	5	−1
	Pirate Party	25,086	0.85	0	0
	Independence Party	13,638	0.46	0	0
	Åland Coalition	10,910	0.37	1	0
	Communist Party	7,529	0.25	0	0
	Change 2011	7,442	0.25	0	0
	Pirkanmaa Joint List	2,469	0.08	0	New
	Liberals for Åland	1,277	0.04	0	0
	Communist Workers' Party	1,100	0.04	0	0
	Workers' Party	984	0.03	0	0
	For the Poor	623	0.02	0	0
	Independents	2,075	0.07	0	0
Total		2,968,459	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		2,968,459	99.48
Invalid/blank votes		15,397	0.52
Total votes cast		2,983,856	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,463,333	66.85
Source: Ministry of Justice, YLE

Popular vote KESK   21.10% KOK   18.20% PS   17.65% SDP   16.51% VIHR   8.53% VAS   7.13% SFP   4.88% KD   3.54% Others   2.46%

Parliament seats KESK   24.50% PS   19.00% KOK   18.50% SDP   17.00% VIHR   7.50% VAS   6.00% SFP   4.50% KD   2.50% Others   0.50%

Government formation

As the leader of the largest party, Juha Sipilä of Centre was tasked with forming the new government coalition. In early May Sipilä announced that he will seek to form a right-leaning majority coalition consisting of the three largest parties – the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party.[9] The coalition negotiations were successful and led to the formation of the Sipilä cabinet on 29 May.

References

1. "Finnish Parliamentary Elections 2015" (PDF). vaalit.fi. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
2. "Advance voting begins ahead of parliamentary elections". yle.fi. Yle News English. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
3. "People entitled to vote". vaalit.fi. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
4. Vasemmistoliitto lähtee hallituksesta YLE, 25 March 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
5. Fennovoiman periaatepäätös hyväksyttiin, vihreät jättää hallituksen Helsingin Sanomat, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
6. Vihreät ulos hallituksesta – "Mieli on raskas ja pettynyt" YLE, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
7. Vaalipiiriuudistus lyötiin lukkoon eduskunnassa YLE, 6 March 2013, accessed 18 September 2014.
8. "Yle Tulos palvelu Koko maa". Yle Vaalikone.
9. Sipilä opts for right-leaning government, YLE News 7 May 2015, accessed 7 May 2015.

External links

Media related to Parliamentary elections in Finland, 2015 at Wikimedia Commons