Presidential election in Finland in 1988

The presidential election in Finland in 1988 was held on January 31 and 1. February 1988 instead.

The elections were conducted in a new system. In addition to the Electoral Committee, the Finnish people were called upon to elect the President directly. The Electoral Committee would only be used if none of the candidates achieved an absolute majority in the direct election. To avoid a stalemate, the electoral committee was expanded from 300 to 301 people.

In fact, incumbent Mauno Koivisto, the candidate for the Social Democratic Party of Finland, who was also supported by other parties and lists, received 48.9% of the vote in the direct election, necessitating a meeting of the Electoral Committee. He finally elected him again as President in the second ballot.

Candidates

Koivisto in 1987 with his wife Tellervo on a visit to Dresden.

Five candidates ran for the presidential election:

Mauno Koivisto:

For the Social Democratic Party of Finland incumbent Mauno Koivisto stood again . The 64-year-old has held the office of Finnish President since 1982. Before that, he had been Finnish Prime Minister from 1968 to 1970 and from 1979 to 1982. In addition to his own party, he was also supported by the Rural Party of Finland and the Pro Koivisto list specially drawn up for the election. He also received the confirmation of vote in the Ålands Samling.

Paavo Väyrynen:

41-year-old Paavo Väyrynen competed for the Finnish Center Party. Väyrynen had already served as minister in several cabinets since 1975, including foreign ministers under the Social Democrats Kalevi Sorsa and Mauno Koivisto. He had already been selected as a candidate by the Center Party in 1986. During the election campaign, he mainly focused on foreign policy and accused Koivisto of incompetence in this area. However, the situation changed with the beginning of détente when Mikhail Gorbachev took office in the Soviet Union, which meant that Väyrynen lost his most important topic. He also had difficulties in surveys to gain broader recognition among the Finnish population as a personality.

Harri Holkeri:

The liberal-conservative National Collection Party presented Harri Holkeri as their candidate. Holkeri had become Prime Minister after the parliamentary elections in 1987.

Kalevi Kivistö:

The left-wing Socialist Democratic Union of the Finnish People suffered a severe setback in the 1987 parliamentary elections. In the presidential election, she set up Movement 88 specifically to support her candidate Kalevi Kivistö . Kivistö had already started for the SKDL in 1982 and was able to keep his voting result at around 11% this time. At the time of the election he was the acting Minister of Education.

Jouko Kajanoja:

The 46-year-old Jouko Kajanoja was the candidate for the Democratic Alternative. The Democratic Alternative had emerged in 1986 from the intra-party, Orthodox-Marxist opposition of the Democratic Union of the Finnish People and had received 4.2% of the vote in the 1987 parliamentary elections. Under Koivisto he was Minister of Labor in 1981/82.

Public elections

The Finnish people were called on January 31st and February 1st to elect both the President and any electoral committee that might be required.

presidential election

Party / list	candidate	Result
		be right	Share of votes
Social Democratic Party of Finland	Mauno Koivisto	1 513 234	48.9%
Center Party	Paavo Väyrynen	636 375	20.6%
National rally party	Harri Holkeri	570 340	18.4%
Movement 88	Kalevi Kivistö	330 072	10.7%
Democratic alternative	Jouko Kajanoja	44 428	1.4%
Total		3,094,449	100.0%

Election to the electoral committee

Party / list	Result		Seats
	be right	Share of votes
Social Democratic Party of Finland	1 175 209	39.4%	128
Center Party	647 769	21.7%	68
National rally party	603 180	20.2%	63
Movement 88	286 833	9.6%	26th
Peasant party	120 043	4.0%	7th
Pro Koivisto	88 663	3.0%	8th
Democratic alternative	56 528	1.9%	0
Åland's Samling	7 484	0.3%	1
Total	2,985,709	100.0%	301

Electoral Committee

The 301 members of the Electoral Committee met on February 15, 1988. Mauno Koivisto was elected President in the second ballot, which meant that he could begin his second term.

Party / list	candidate	1st ballot	2nd ballot
Social Democratic Party of Finland Rural Party of Finland Pro Koivisto Ålands Samling	Mauno Koivisto	144	189
Finnish Center Party	Paavo Väyrynen	68	68
National rally party	Harri Holkeri	63	18th
Movement 88	Kalevi Kivistö	26th	26th
Democratic alternative	Jouko Kajanoja	0	-
Total		301	301