Parliamentary election in Finland in 1954

← 1951General election 19541958 →

Result (in%)

 %

30th

20th

10

0

26.3

24.1

21.6

12.8

7.9

6.8

0.5

SDP

ML

SKDL

COOK

KP

RKP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1951

 % p

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-0.2

+0.8

± 0.0

-1.8

+2.2

-0.4

-0.6

SDP

ML

SKDL

COOK

KP

RKP

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats

      

A total of 200 seats

• SKDL : 43
• SDP : 54
• CP : 13
• RKP : 13
• ML : 53
• KOK : 24

The parliamentary elections in Finland in 1954 took place on March 7th and 8th, 1954. It was the election for the 21st Finnish parliament .

The election was brought forward after the Kekkonen IV cabinet resigned on November 17, 1953 and Sakari Tuomioja took over as managing director.

The elections themselves did not result in any major changes from the 1951 elections.

Starting position

After the last elections in 1951, Urho Kekkonen from the Landbund formed a government made up of the Landbund, Social Democrats and the Swedish People's Party. The government struggled with budget problems that eventually led to the Social Democrats' exit from the cabinet (July 1953). Kekkonens following government from the Landbund and the Swedish People's Party did not have a majority. In November 1953, President Juho Kusti Paasikivi handed over government duties to Sakari Tuomioja from the Liberal League, which itself did not have any seats in parliament. Tuomioja managed to stabilize the budget and also to keep the Soviet influence under control.

Participating parties

Eight different parties ran for election.

The following parties were already represented in parliament:

Political party		Alignment	Top candidate
	Social Democratic Party of Finland Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (SDP) Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti	social democratic	Emil Skog
	Landbund Maalaisliitto (ML) Agrarförbundet	social liberal	Vieno Sukselainen
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto (SKDL) Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk (DFFF)	socialist	Kusti Kulo
	National Collection Party Kansallinen Kokoomus (KOK) Samlingspartiet	conservative	Arvo salt mines
	Swedish People's Party Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue (RKP) Svenska Folkpartiet (SFP)	liberal	Ralf Törngren
	People's Party of Finland Suomen Kansanpuolue (KP) Finska Folkpartiet (FFP)	liberal	Eino Saari

Election result

The turnout was 79.9 percent, 5.3 percentage points above the turnout in the last parliamentary election in 1951.

Result of the parliamentary elections in Finland in 1954

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)	527.094	26.25	−0.27	54	+1
	Land Federation (ML)	483,958	24.10	+0.84	53	+2
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People (SKDL)	433.251	21.57	−0.01	43	-
	National Collection Party (KOK)	257.025	12.80	−1.77	24	−4
	People's Party of Finland (KP)	158.323	7.88	+2.20	13	+3
	Swedish People's Party (RKP)	135,768	6.76	−0.44	12	−2
	Liberal Federation (VL)	6,810	0.34	+0.07	-	-
	Åländsk Samling *	4,651	0.23	−0.08	1	-
	Small farmers party	1,040	0.05	−0.22	-	-
	Others	337	0.02	-	-	-
total		2,008,257	100.00		200
Valid votes		2,008,257	99.47
Invalid votes		10,785	0.53
voter turnout		2,019,042	79.90
Eligible voters		2,526,969	100.00
Source:
Notes: * Åland mandate

After the election

Ralf Törngren

The Social Democrats still refused to work with Urho Kekkonen and his Landbund. In the coalition negotiations, an agreement was finally reached on a government, but under the leadership of Ralf Törngren from the Swedish People's Party. After less than six months, the Social Democrats and the Landbund finally agreed on a joint government without the Swedish People's Party. Previously, Kekkonen had shown more willingness to compromise than before. The Kekkonen V cabinet remained in government until March 3, 1956, when Kekkonen was elected President on February 15, 1956. His successor as Prime Minister was Karl-August Fagerholm from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which again formed a government made up of the Social Democrats, the Landbund and the Swedish People's Party. In the course of this government there was a split in the SDP. In May 1957 Vieno Sukselainen of the Landbund became the new Prime Minister. It had to rely on a minority government made up of the Landbund, the Swedish People's Party, the People's Party of Finland and parts of the Social Democratic Party. The coalition broke up that same year. Kekkonen then appoints Rainer von Fieandt, a managing minister-president. In April 1958 Fieandt was replaced by Reino Kuuskoski , after von Fienadt had previously suffered a defeat in parliament on the increase in bread prices. New elections were held on July 6 and 7, 1958, and on August 29, 1958, the Kuuskoski cabinet was replaced by the Fagerholm III cabinet .

Overview of the cabinets:

38. Cabinet Törngren - Ralf Törngren (Swedish People's Party) - Government: Social Democrats, Landbund, Swedish People's Party (May 5, 1954 to October 20, 1954)
39. Cabinet Kekkonen V - Urho Kekkonen (Landbund) - Government: Social Democrats, Landbund (October 20, 1954 to March 3, 1956)
40. Cabinet Fagerholm II - Karl-August Fagerholm (Social Democrats) - Government: Social Democrats, Landbund, Swedish People's Party (March 3, 1956 to May 27, 1957)
41. Cabinet Sukselainen I - Vieno Sukselainen (Landbund) - Government: Landbund, Swedish People's Party, People's Party of Finland, spin-off from the SDP (May 27, 1957 to November 29, 1957)
42. Fieandt cabinet - Rainer von Fieandt (independent) - transitional government (November 29, 1957 to April 26, 1958)
43. Kuuskoski cabinet - Reino Kuuskoski (independent) - transitional government (April 26, 1958 to August 29, 1958)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Official result of the 1954 general election yle.fi (Finnish)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Valtiolliset ja kunnalliset vaalit, 1951–2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. stat.fi , Excel file  

Web links

• Finnish postage stamps - crises