Parliamentary election in Finland 1919

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Result (in%)

 %

40

30th

20th

10

0

38.0

19.7

15.7

12.8

12.1

1.5

0.2

SDP

ML

KOK ^c

ED

RKP

KTL

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1917

 % p

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-6.8

+7.3

± 0.0

± 0.0

+1.2

-0.1

-1.6

SDP

ML

KOK ^c

ED

RKP

KTL

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^c 1917: SP

Distribution of seats

      

A total of 200 seats

• SDP : 80
• KTL : 2
• ED : 26
• RKP : 22
• ML : 42
• KOK : 28

The parliamentary elections in Finland 1919 ( Finnish Eduskuntavaalit 1919 ; Swedish Riksdagsvalet 1919 ) took place on March 1st and 3rd, 1919. It was the election to the 9th Finnish Parliament and also the first parliamentary election in independent Finland and after the civil war in 1918.

Starting position

Due to the Finnish civil war , the Social Democrats boycotted the parliament. Reichsverweser ( Finnish valtionhoitaja ; Swedish riksföreståndare ) Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim had the parliament dissolved and new elections ordered early . The elections therefore took place a year before the scheduled date (July 1920).

Participating parties

Six different parties ran for election:

Political party		Alignment	Top candidate
	Social Democratic Party of Finland Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (SDP) Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti	social democratic , republican	Väinö Tanner
	National Collection Party Kansallinen Kokoomus (KOK) Samlingspartiet	conservative , monarchist	Hugo Suolahti
	National Progressive Party Kansallinen Edistyspuolue (ED) Framstegspartiet	liberal , republican	Oskari Mantere
	Landbund Maalaisliitto (ML) Agrarförbundet	agricultural , republican	Santeri Alkio
	Swedish People's Party Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue (RKP) Svenska Folkpartiet (SFP)	liberal	Eric from Rettig
	Christian Workers' Union of Finland Suomen Kristillisen Työvänen Liitto (KTL) Finlands kristliga arbetarförbund	Christian - social democratic

Election result

The turnout was 67.1 percent, 2.1 percentage points below the turnout in the last parliamentary election in 1917.

The Social Democrats remained by far the strongest force in the Eduskunta , but lost twelve seats. The second strongest force was the Landbund for the first time, which increased its share of the vote from 12% to almost 20% and gained 16 seats. With the conservative National Collection Party, founded in 1918 by supporters of monarchy, and the liberal Progressive Party, two new parties took part in the election. They replaced the Finnish Party, the Young Finnish Party and the Finnish People's Party. After two years of absence in the Finnish parliament, the Christian Workers' Union received two seats again.

Result of the parliamentary election in Finland in 1919

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)	365.046	37.98	−6.81	80	−12
	Land Federation (ML)	189,297	19.70	+7.32	42	+16
	National Collection Party (KOK)	151.018	15.71	-	28	−4
	National Progressive Party (ED)	123.090	12.81	-	26th	+2
	Swedish People's Party (RKP)	116,582	12.13	+1.23	22nd	+1
	Christian Labor Federation of Finland (KTL)	14,718	1.53	−0.28	2	+2
	Others	1,350	0.14	−0.06	-	-
total		961.101	100.00		200
Valid votes		961.101	99.51
Invalid votes		4,771	0.49
voter turnout		965.872	67.13
Eligible voters		1,438,709	100.00
Source:

After the election

On August 15, 1919, the new government under Juho Vennola of the Progress Party began work. Vennola was Deputy Finance Minister in 1918/19 and Minister for Trade and Industry in Kaarlo Castrén's cabinet from April to August 1919 .

Juho Vennola, who ruled with the Landbund during his first term in office, was replaced on March 15, 1920 by Rafael Erich of the National Collection Party. He created a coalition of the Collection Party, the Progress Party, the Land Association and the Swedish People's Party. On April 9, 1921, Juho Vennola was again Prime Minister, who again formed a coalition with the Landbund. From June 2, 1922 to November 14, 1922, Aimo Kaarlo Cajander ruled as executive prime minister before Kyösti Kallio of the Landbund took over the office of Finnish prime minister after the elections of 1922.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Official result of the 1919 general election yle.fi (Finnish)
2. ↑ Eduskuntavaalit 1907–2003 ( Memento of January 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), vaalit.fi, PDF file (Finnish)
3. ↑ Eduskuntavaalit vuonna 1919 doria.fi , PDF file (Finnish)