Parliamentary election in Finland 1936

← 1933Parliamentary election in Finland 19361939 →

Result (in%)

 %

40

30th

20th

10

0

38.6

22.4

11.2

10.4

8.3

6.3

2.0

0.8

SDP

ML

RKP

COOK

ICL

ED

SPP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1933

 % p

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

+1.3

-0.1

+0.8

± 0.0

± 0.0

-1.1

-1.4

+0.5

SDP

ML

RKP

COOK

ICL

ED

SPP

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats

      

A total of 200 seats

• SDP : 83
• Otherwise: 9
• RKP : 21
• ML : 53
• KOK : 20
• ICL : 14

The parliamentary elections in Finland in 1936 ( Finnish Eduskuntavaalit 1936 ; Swedish Riksdagsvalet 1936 ) took place on July 1 and 2, 1936. It was the election for the 16th Finnish parliament .

Since 1932 Toivo Kivimäki from the Progress Party led a coalition consisting of the Landbund, Progress Party and Swedish People's Party. After the events surrounding the Lapua movement in the early 1930s, one could speak of a stabilization of democracy in Finland in the 1936 election, after which the conservative rallying party and the nationalist Patriotic People's Movement no longer ran together in an electoral alliance. The rallying party had nevertheless suffered significant damage from this alliance and only received 10.4% of the vote.

As in 1933, the Social Democrats were the biggest winners in 1936. They received 38.6% of the vote and had 83 of the 200 seats in parliament. The Progress Party of the previous Prime Minister Toivo Kivimäki lost four seats.

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	Kaarlo Harvala
	Landbund Maalaisliitto (ML) Agrarförbundet	social liberal	Petter Heikkinen
	National Collection Party Kansallinen Kokoomus (KOK) Samlingspartiet	conservative	Pekka Pennanen
	Patriotic People's Movement Isämaallinnen Kansanliike (IKL) Fosterländska Folkrörelsen	nationalist	Vihtori Kosola
	Swedish People's Party Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue (RKP) Svenska Folkpartiet (SFP)	liberal	Ernst von Born
	National Progressive Party Kansallinen Edistyspuolue (ED) Framstegspartiet	liberal	Aimo Kaarlo Cajander
	Small farmers' party of Finland Suomen Pienviljelijäin Puolue (SPP)	Left
	Kansanpuolue People's Party		Yrjö Hautala

Election result

The turnout was 62.9 percent, 0.7 percentage points above the turnout in the last parliamentary election in 1933.

Result of the parliamentary election in Finland in 1936

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)	452.751	38.59	+1.26	83	+5
	Land Federation (ML)	262.917	22.41	−0.13	53	-
	Swedish People's Party (RKP)	131,440	11.20	+0.78	21st	-
	National Collection Party (KOK)	121,619	10.36	-	20th	+2
	Patriotic People's Movement (ICL)	97,891	8.34	-	14th	-
	National Progressive Party (ED)	73,654	6.28	−1.13	7th	−4
	Small Farmers Party of Finland (SPP)	23,159	1.97	−1.42	1	−2
	People's Party	7,449	0.63	−0.22	1	−1
	Others	2,502	0.21	+0.07	-	-
total		1,173,382	100.00		200
Valid votes		1,173,382	99.57
Invalid votes		5,030	0.43
voter turnout		1,178,412	62.92
Eligible voters		1,872,908	100.00
Source:

After the election

The relationship between the strongest force, the social democratic SDP, and the Landbund had improved. After the election there were talks between these parties about a possible government. After a protest by the rallying party, however, President Svinhufvud did not hand over the task of forming a government to the Social Democrat Väinö Tanner , but to the Landbund politician Kyösti Kallio . Together with the Progressive Party, this formed a minority government. However, the Kallio IV cabinet was not even supposed to last six months, since Kallio was elected president and took up this office on March 1, 1937.

Afterwards, Aimo Cajander , who became Prime Minister for the third time, formed a majority government from the Progress Party consisting of the Social Democrats, the Landbund, the Swedish People's Party and the Progress Party. This government existed until December 1, 1939.

Overview:

21. Cabinet Kallio IV - Kyösti Kallio (Landbund) - Government: Landbund, Progress Party ( 7 October 1936 to 12 March 1937 )
22. Cabinet Cajander III - Aimo Cajander (Progressive Party) - Government: Social Democrats, Landbund, Sweden, Progressive Party ( March 12, 1937 to December 1, 1939 )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Official result of the 1936 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 1936 doria.fi , PDF file (Finnish)

Web links

• History in postage stamps