Parliamentary election in Finland 1972

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Result (in%)

 %

30th

20th

10

0

25.8

17.6

17.0

16.4

9.2

5.2

5.1

2.5

1.2

SDP

COOK

SKDL

KESK

SMP

LKP

RKP

SKL

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1970

 % p

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

+2.4

-0.5

+0.4

-0.7

-1.3

-0.8

-0.2

+1.4

-0.7

SDP

COOK

SKDL

KESK

SMP

LKP

RKP

SKL

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats

        

A total of 200 seats

• SKDL : 37
• SDP : 55
• SMP : 18
• LBP : 7
• RKP : 10
• KESK : 35
• KOK : 34
• SKL : 4

The parliamentary elections in Finland in 1972 took place on January 2-3, 1972. It was the election to the 26th Finnish parliament .

Finland experienced an economic boom around 1970. Nonetheless, a general strike broke out in 1971 because collective bargaining was broken off without result. This also led to the break in the grand coalition of the Center Party and Social Democrats under Prime Minister Ahti Karjalainen from the center. For the second time in two years, Teuvo Aura has been commissioned by the Liberal People's Party to form a transitional government.

The election brought little change to the larger parties. The Social Democratic Party became the largest group (55 seats). The People's Democratic Union (37 seats) replaced the conservative rallying party (34 seats) as the second largest group. The peasant party , which appeared as a protest party in 1970 and was able to increase its share of the vote, was able to defend its 18 seats.

Participating parties

9 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	Rafael Paasio
	National Collection Party Kansallinen Kokoomus (KOK) Samlingspartiet	conservative	Harri Holkeri
	Finnish Center Party Suomen Keskusta (KESK) Centern i Finland	social liberal	Johannes Virolainen
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto (SKDL) Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk (DFFF)	socialist	Ele Alenius
	Finnish Rural Party Suomen Maaseudun Puolue (SMP) Finlands Landsbygdsparti	centrist	Veikko Vennamo
	Liberal People's Party Liberaalinen Kansanpuolue (LKP) Liberala Folkpartiet	liberal	Pekka Tarjanne
	Swedish People's Party Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue (RKP) Svenska Folkpartiet (SFP)	liberal	Jan-Magnus Jansson
	Christian Federation of Finland Suomen Kristillinen Liitto (SKL) Finlands Kristliga Förbund	Christian Democratic	Olavi Majlander

Election result

The turnout was 81.4 percent, 0.8 percentage points below the 1970 turnout.

Result of the parliamentary election in Finland in 1972

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)	664.724	25.78	+2.35	55	+3
	National Collection Party (KOK)	453.434	17.59	−0.46	34	−3
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People (SKDL)	438,757	17.02	+0.44	37	+1
	Finnish Center Party (KESK)	423.039	16.41	−0.71	35	−1
	Finnish Rural Party (SMP)	236.206	9.16	−1.33	18th	-
	Liberal People's Party (LKP)	132.955	5.16	−0.79	7th	−1
	Swedish People's Party (RKP)	130,407	5.06	−0.29	9	−2
	Christian Federation of Finland (SKL)	65,228	2.53	+1.40	4th	+3
	Social Democratic Federation of Workers and Small Farmers (TPSL)	25,527	0.99	−0.41	-	-
	Åländsk Samling *	7,672	0.30	−0.05	1	-
total		2,577,949	100.00		200
Valid votes		2,577,949	99.65
Invalid votes		9.111	0.35
voter turnout		2,587,060	81.41
Eligible voters		3,178,011	100.00
Source:
Notes: * Åland mandate

After the election

Due to internal party disputes in the People's Democratic Union, no coalition was formed between Social Democrats and Socialist People's Democrats. That is why Rafael Paasio formed an SDP minority government.
In September 1972 Kalevi Sorsa (SDP) formed a center-left government made up of the SDP, the Center, the Swedish People's Party and the Liberal People's Party. In 1975 Sorsa resigned and President Urho Kekkonen had new elections scheduled for September. The social democrat Keijo Liinamaa took over the government.

Overview of the cabinets

55. Cabinet Paasio II - Rafael Paasio (SDP) - Minority Government of the Social Democrats (February 23, 1972 to September 4, 1972)
56. Cabinet Sorsa I - Kalevi Sorsa (SDP) - Government from SDP, Center Party, Swedish People's Party, Liberal People's Party (September 4, 1972 to June 13, 1975)
57. Liinamaa Cabinet - Keijo Liinamaa (SDP) - Interim Government (June 13, 1975 to November 30, 1975)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Official result of the 1972 parliamentary elections 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

• - Period of political change (1962–1972)