Parliamentary election in Finland 1979

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Result (in%)

 %

30th

20th

10

0

23.9

21.7

17.9

17.3

4.8

4.6

4.2

3.7

1.9

SDP

COOK

SKDL

KESK

SKL

SMP

RKP

LKP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1975

 % p

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-1.0

+3.3

-1.0

-0.3

+1.5

+1.0

-0.5

-0.7

-2.3

SDP

COOK

SKDL

KESK

SKL

SMP

RKP

LKP

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats

        

A total of 200 seats

• SKDL : 35
• SDP : 52
• SMP : 7
• LBP : 4
• RKP : 10
• KESK : 36
• KOK : 47
• SKL : 9

The parliamentary elections in Finland in 1979 took place on March 18-19, 1979. It was the election of the 28th Finnish parliament .

The Social Democratic Party, which had been Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa since 1977 , remained the strongest force. The conservative National Collection Party under Harri Holkeri gained twelve seats and was just behind the Social Democratic Party the second strongest party.

Participating parties

12 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	Kalevi Sorsa
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto (SKDL) Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk (DFFF)	socialist	Ele Alenius
	National Collection Party Kansallinen Kokoomus (KOK) Samlingspartiet	conservative	Ilkka Suominen
	Finnish Center Party Suomen Keskusta (KESK) Centern i Finland	social liberal	Johannes Virolainen
	Swedish People's Party Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue (RKP) Svenska Folkpartiet (SFP)	liberal	Par Stenbäck
	Liberal People's Party Liberaalinen Kansanpuolue (LKP) Liberala Folkpartiet	liberal	Jaakko Itälä
	Finnish Rural Party Suomen Maaseudun Puolue (SMP) Finlands Landsbygdsparti	centrist	Veikko Vennamo
	Christian Federation of Finland Suomen Kristillinen Liitto (SKL) Finlands Kristliga Förbund	Christian Democratic	Raino Westerholm
	National Unity Party of Finland Suomen Kansan Yhtenäisyyden Puolue (SKYP) Finlands Folks Enhetsparti	centrist
	Constitutional People's Party of Finland Suomen Perustuslaillinen Kansanpuolue (SPK) Finlands Konstitutionella Folkparti	right	Georg C. Ehrnrooth

Election result

The turnout was 75.3 percent, 1.5 percentage points higher than the turnout in the last parliamentary election in 1975.

Result of the parliamentary election in Finland in 1979

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)	691,512	23.89	−0.97	52	−2
	National Collection Party (KOK)	626.764	21.65	+3.27	47	+12
	Democratic Union of the Finnish People (SKDL)	518.045	17.90	−0.99	35	−5
	Finnish Center Party (KESK)	500,478	17.29	−0.34	36	−3
	Christian Federation of Finland (SKL)	138,244	4.78	+1.49	9	-
	Finnish Rural Party (SMP)	132,457	4.58	+0.99	7th	+5
	Swedish People's Party (RKP)	122,418	4.23	−0.43	9	-
	Liberal People's Party (LKP)	106,560	3.68	−0.67	4th	−5
	Constitutional People's Party of Finland (SPK)	34,958	1.21	−0.37	-	−1
	National Unity Party of Finland (SKYP)	9,316	0.32	−1.32	-	−1
	Åländsk Samling *	9,286	0.32	−0.02	1	-
	Socialist Workers Party (STP)	2,955	0.10	−0.24	-	-
	Private Entrepreneurs Party of Finland (SYP)	1,233	0.04	−0.38	-	-
	Others	220	0.01	−0.01	-	-
total		2,894,446	100.00		200
Valid votes		2,894,446	99.60
Invalid votes		11,620	0.40
voter turnout		2,906,066	75.31
Eligible voters		3,858,553	100.00
Source:
Notes: * Åland mandate

After the election

Mauno Koivisto replaced his party colleague Kalevi Sorsa as prime minister. Koivisto had already been Prime Minister between 1968 and 1970. This time he formed a center / left government made up of the Social Democrats, the Center, the Swedish People's Party and the People's Democrats. In doing so, he continued Sorsa's coalition, albeit without the Liberal People's Party. Koivisto was elected President of the Republic of Urho Kekkonen in January 1982 . The new Prime Minister was Kalevi Sorsa, who continued the Koivisto coalition. On December 31, 1982, Arne Berner , a minister of the Liberal People's Party, was sworn in, after which the People's Democrats left the government.

Overview of the cabinets:

61. Cabinet Koivisto II - Mauno Koivisto (Social Democratic Party) - Government of the Social Democratic Party, Center Party, Swedish People's Party, People's Democratic Union (May 26, 1979 to February 19, 1982)
62. Cabinet Sorsa III - Kalevi Sorsa (Social Democratic Party) - Government composed of the Social Democratic Party, Center Party, Swedish People's Party, People's Democratic Union (until the end of 1982), Liberal People's Party (since late 1982) (February 19, 1982 to May 6, 1983)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Official result of the 1979 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

• Rapprochement with Europe (1972–1994)