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 the Parliament of Finland 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
Registered4,463,333
Turnout70.1% (Decrease 0.4pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Soome ja Eesti riigipead Soome 100 kontserdil (cropped).jpg
Timo Soini 2015.JPG
Alexander Stubb Oct, 2014.jpg
Leader Juha Sipilä Timo Soini Alexander Stubb
Party Centre Finns National Coalition
Last election 35 seats, 15.8% 39 seats, 19.1% 44 seats, 20.4%
Seats won 49 38 37
Seat change Increase 14 Decrease 1 Decrease 7
Popular vote 626,218 524,054 540,212
Percentage 21.1% 17.7% 18.2%
Swing Increase 5.3pp Decrease 1.4pp Decrease 2.2pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Antti Rinne.jpg
Ville Niinisto Grona forbundet (grona) Finland. Nordiska radets session 2010.jpg
Paavo Arhinmäki 2011 (cropped).jpg
Leader Antti Rinne Ville Niinistö Paavo Arhinmäki
Party SDP VIHR Left Alliance
Last election 42 seats, 19.1% 10 seats, 7.3% 14 seats, 8.1%
Seats won 34 15 12
Seat change Decrease 8 Increase 5 Decrease 2
Popular vote 490,102 253,102 211,702
Percentage 16.5% 8.5% 7.1%
Swing Decrease 2.6pp Increase 1.3pp Decrease 1.0pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Carl Haglund.jpg
Päivi Räsänen 2015.jpg
Mats Löfström 2020.jpg
Leader Carl Haglund Päivi Räsänen Mats Löfström
Party RKP KD ÅS
Last election 9 seats, 4.3% 6 seats, 4.0% 1 seat, 0.3%
Seats won 9 5 1
Seat change Steady 0 Decrease 1 Steady 0
Popular vote 144,802 105,134 10,910
Percentage 4.9% 3.5% 0.4%
Swing Increase 0.6pp Decrease 0.5pp Steady 0.0pp

Results map

Prime Minister before election

Alexander Stubb
National Coalition

Prime Minister after election

Juha Sipilä
Centre

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

Background

Previous government coalition

2015 candidate posters

The incumbent government was a four-party coalition composed of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats as well as independent Member of Parliament Elisabeth Nauclér. The 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 were merged into a new district called Savonia-Karelia, while the electoral districts of Kymi and Southern Savonia were merged into a new district called South-Eastern Finland.[7]

Electoral districtSeats
01 Helsinki22
02 Uusimaa35
03 Finland Proper17
04 Satakunta8
05 Åland1
06 Tavastia14
07 Pirkanmaa19
08 South-East Finland17
09 Savonia-Karelia16
10 Vaasa16
11 Central Finland10
12 Oulu18
13 Lapland7

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
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Centre Party626,21821.1049+14
Finns Party524,05417.6538−1
National Coalition Party540,21218.2037−7
Social Democratic Party490,10216.5134−8
Green League253,1028.5315+5
Left Alliance211,7027.1312−2
Swedish People's Party144,8024.8890
Christian Democrats105,1343.545−1
Pirate Party25,0860.8500
Independence Party13,6380.4600
Åland Coalition 2015 (CMS)10,9100.3710
Communist Party7,5290.2500
Change 20117,4420.2500
Pirkanmaa Joint List2,4690.080New
Liberals for Åland1,2770.0400
Communist Workers' Party1,1030.0400
Workers' Party9840.0300
For the Poor6230.0200
Independents2,0750.0700
Total2,968,462100.002000
Valid votes2,968,46299.48
Invalid/blank votes15,3970.52
Total votes2,983,859100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,463,33366.85
Source: Ministry of Justice, YLE

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 would 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.

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

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