1925 Finnish presidential election

1925 Finnish presidential election
	15–16 January 1925
President before election; Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg; National Progressive	Elected President ; Lauri Kristian Relander; Agrarian

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1925. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college.[1] They in turn elected the president. The result was a victory for Lauri Kristian Relander, who won on the third ballot.[2] The turnout for the popular vote was just 39.7%.[3] The outgoing president, K.J. Ståhlberg, had refused to seek a second term. According to the late Agrarian and Centrist politician, Johannes Virolainen, he stepped down after one term because he believed that an incumbent president would be too likely to win re-election. President Ståhlberg claimed that he had already completed his political service to Finland as president. Moreover, he wanted to step down because many right-wing Finns (especially veterans of the Civil War and supporters of the Greater Finland movement) opposed him. According to Pentti Virrankoski, a Finnish historian, President Ståhlberg hoped that his retirement would advance parliamentary politics in Finland. Ståhlberg's party, the Progressives, chose Risto Ryti, the governor of the Bank of Finland, as their presidential candidate. The Agrarians only chose Lauri Kristian Relander as their presidential candidate in early February 1925. The National Coalitioners originally chose former Regent and Prime Minister Pehr Evind Svinhufvud as their presidential candidate, but before the presidential electors met, they replaced Svinhufvud with Hugo Suolahti, an academician working as the rector (principal) of the University of Helsinki (Heikinheimo, Ilmari, Suomen elämäkerrasto (The Biography Compilation of Finland), pg. 731, Helsinki: Werner Söderström Publications Ltd., 1955). Relander surprised many politicians by defeating Ryti as a dark-horse presidential candidate, although he had served as the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, and as Governor of the Province of Viipuri. Ståhlberg had quietly favoured Ryti as his successor, because he considered Ryti a principled and unselfish politician. He was disappointed with Relander's victory, and told one of his daughters that if he had known beforehand that Relander would be elected as his successor, he would have considered seeking a second term (see, for example, Sakari Virkkunen, Finland's Presidents I / Suomen presidentit I. Helsinki: Otava Ltd., 1994, pgs. 183-187 (Ståhlberg), pgs. 10–17; Johannes Virolainen, The Last Electoral Term / Viimeinen vaalikausi. Helsinki: Otava Ltd., 1991; Raimo Salokangas, "The Independent Republic" (Itsenäinen tasavalta), pgs. 631–632 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen. Helsinki: WSOY, 2003; Pentti Virrankoski, A History of Finland / Suomen historia, volumes 1&2. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura), 2009, pgs. 791–792).

Results

Popular vote


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party	165,091	26.55	79
	National Coalition Party	141,240	22.71	68
	Agrarian League	123,932	19.93	69
	Swedish People's Party	78,422	12.61	35
	National Progressive Party	71,199	11.45	33
	Socialist Workers' Party	41,213	6.63	16
	Others	822	0.13	0
Total		621,919	100.00	300

Valid votes		621,919	99.64
Invalid/blank votes		2,258	0.36
Total votes		624,177	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,572,485	39.69
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round		Third round
Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Väinö Tanner	Social Democratic Party	78	26.00	2	0.67
	Lauri Kristian Relander	Agrarian League	69	23.00	97	32.44	172	61.21
	Hugo Suolahti	National Coalition Party	68	22.67	80	26.76
	Risto Ryti	National Progressive Party	33	11.00	104	34.78	109	38.79
	Karl Söderholm	Swedish People's Party	35	11.67
	Matti Väisänen	Socialist Workers' Party	16	5.33	16	5.35
	Väinö Voionmaa	Social Democratic Party	1	0.33
Total			300	100.00	299	100.00	281	100.00

Valid votes			300	100.00	299	99.67	281	93.67
Invalid/blank votes			0	0.00	1	0.33	19	6.33
Total votes			300	100.00	300	100.00	300	100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p627
Nohlen & Stöver, p622

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[DN-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p627

[3] Nohlen & Stöver, p622

Elections and referendums in Finland
Parliamentary elections	1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1922 1924 1927 1929 1930 1933 1936 1939 1945 1948 1951 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1972 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Local elections	1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1928 1930 1933 1936 1945 1947 1950 1953 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2017 2021 2022
Presidential elections	(1919) 1925 1931 1937 (1940) (1943) (1946) 1950 1956 1962 1968 1978 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1996 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Sámi elections	1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Referendums	1931 1994
Elections in brackets were not public elections