Swedish People's Party (Finland)

This article deals with the Swedish People's Party operating in Finland . For the former Liberal People's Party in Sweden, which has been called Liberalerna (The Liberals) since 2015 , see Liberalerna .

Svenska folkpartiet Ruotsalainen kansanpuolue Swedish People's Party
Party leader	Anna-Maja Henriksson
Secretary General	Fredrik Guseff
vice-chairman	Silja Borgarsdóttir Sandelin Anders Adlercreutz Nicke Wulff
founding	May 21, 1906
Headquarters	Simonkatu 8 A FIN - 00100 Helsinki
Alignment	Liberalism minority politics
Colours)	Blue, red, yellow
Parliament seats	9/200
Number of members	approx. 32,000 (2006)
International connections	Liberal International (LI)
MEPs	1/14
European party	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
EP Group	Renew Europe (RE)
Website	www.sfp.fi

Old logo

The Swedish People's Party ( Swedish : Svenska folkpartiet - sfp; Finnish : Ruotsalainen kansanpuolue - rkp) is a moderately liberal party in Finland , which sees itself primarily as a representative of the interests of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland . The party has been regularly involved in Finnish governments in the past, most recently in the cabinets of Katainen (2011–2014), Stubb (2014–2015), and Rinne (2019) and Marin (since 2019).

history

Election poster for the Swedish People's Party from 1907. The motif was used until 1966 with only minor changes.

The history of the Swedish People's Party is closely linked to the position of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland and Finnish language policy. The language issue in Finland has been the subject of heated debate since the 19th century. The Swedish Party was founded around 1870 to defend the prominent position of the Swedish language . Particularly after the constitutional reform of the then Grand Duchy of Finland in 1906, the position of the Finnish Swedes increasingly changed from the state-bearing stratum of the population to a linguistic minority. In the light of this change, the new Swedish People's Party was founded under the leadership of Axel Lille in order to unite the entire linguistic minority, regardless of social class, in a people's party and thus to ensure it an appropriate influence on the politics of the country. The old Swedish People's Party was absorbed into the new party, and its members, who mostly belonged to the upper classes of the population, initially retained great influence in the new party.

The first preparatory meeting for the founding of the new party took place in Helsinki in 1896 . In 1905, Axel Lille drafted a first party program characterized by liberal principles, in which, in addition to the language issue, the desire for far-reaching democratic and social reforms played a major role. With this program the new party would have stood out very clearly from the old Swedish party. However, much more conservative drafts were also submitted, and the program adopted at the founding meeting on May 20 and 21, 1906 represented a compromise with only a moderate reform character.

While the representation of the interests of the Swedish-speaking minority was the central aspect of the party's politics throughout the history of the party, it was particularly difficult in the early years to find a line of social and economic policy that would be supported by all wing of the party. In 1914, far-reaching socio-political demands were included in the party program, but removed again in 1917 at the instigation of the more conservative wing. Axel Lille, who had previously served as party chairman, subsequently resigned from his office.

Over time, the party found a balance between the party wings and advocated moderately liberal politics, which emphasized the importance of a free economy without state interference, but saw social security and the creation or maintenance of a welfare state as tasks of the state.

In foreign policy, the party mostly supported the official policies of the respective Finnish governments, in which it was often involved. This applies in particular to Finnish politics during the Second World War , during which the Swedish People's Party was involved in all governments and thus in particular contributed to the German orientation during the Continuation War . In the post-war period, the party initially played no significant role in foreign policy. However, it always took a line geared towards cooperation with its western neighbors and was one of the most determined supporters of accession to the European Community in 1995 .

The party's faction in parliament traditionally includes not only its own MEPs but also representatives from the autonomous province of Åland .

program

The current party program of the Swedish People's Party was adopted on June 11, 2006 in Vaasa . As in all previous party programs, the support of active and lively bilingualism occupies a large space in the program. The sfp endeavors to embed this aspect in a general policy of tolerance. In practice, the party's political profile, beyond the language issue, often turns out to be poorly sharpened, particularly due to the strong heterogeneity of the electorate.

From an economic point of view, the party program is moderately liberal. In addition to minority rights, the most important issues of the party include general civil rights and economic freedom . However, the goals of maintaining the welfare state and a sustainable environment are equated with the goal of a functioning economy .

The party strives for a peace-oriented policy by strengthening international cooperation and remains firmly behind Finland's membership in the European Union . In contrast to the majority of the Finnish parties, the Swedish People's Party, in deviation from the traditional policy of neutrality, can definitely consider participating in military alliances, particularly NATO . However, the party has not yet taken any concrete decisions regarding possible membership of NATO.

The party conference in 2012 voted with 60 to 40 percent for a gender-neutral reform of marriage law. Conservative-minded members from Larsmo and Jakobstad then threatened to leave the party and criticized what they considered to be the party's overly liberal line.

Party leader

• Axel Lille (1906-1917)
• Eric von Rettig (1917–1934)
• Ernst von Born (1934–1945)
• Ralf Törngren (1945–1955)
• Ernst von Born (1955–1956)
• Lars Erik Taxell (1956–1966)
• Jan-Magnus Jansson (1966–1973)
• Kristian Gestrin (1973–1974)
• Carl Olof Tallgren (1974–1977)
• Pär Stenbäck (1977–1985)
• Christoffer Taxell (1985–1990)
• Ole Norrback (1990-1998)
• Jan-Erik Enestam (1998-2006)
• Stefan Wallin (2006–2012)
• Carl Haglund (2012-2016)
• Anna-Maja Henriksson (since 2016)

Election results and government participation

Absolute votes for the Swedish People's Party (red) and percentage of votes (blue) in Reichstag elections since 1919.

The support of the Swedish People's Party in parliamentary elections has always been linked to the development of the Swedish-speaking population on the one hand and the importance of the Finnish language dispute on the other. This aspect led in the 1930s and 1940s, in which the language problem was increasingly displaced by global political events, to a noticeable decline in the proportion of votes.

In the first parliamentary election in 1907, the party was able to achieve a share of the vote of 12.6% and was stable until 1929 at 12 percent. In the 1930s, the Sfp reached around 10 percent. After the Second World War, the values ​​fell continuously from 7.9% to just 4.2% in 1979. After that, the downward trend could be stopped. The Swedish People's Party achieved very high election results in the settlements of Finland in Sweden. She received 100% of the votes in the local elections in 2004 in the island communities of Houtskär , Iniö and Korpo .

In line with its self-image as a lobbyist and responsible actor in the center, the Swedish People's Party was very often willing to participate in government. At the same time, she encountered a high willingness to integrate among the other parties. Since 1917, the Sfp has been involved in 47 of the 72 Finnish governments, even without this being mathematically necessary for a majority. In 1954 the party appointed the prime minister for five months: Ralf Törngren led a coalition of the Landbund, Social Democrats and Sfp. So far, she has not been able to appoint the president. In the 1994 presidential election, however, the Sfp's candidate, Elisabeth Rehn , made it to the final round. She led the polls for a long time, but was ultimately defeated by the Social Democrat Martti Ahtisaari with 46.1%.

In the 2007 parliamentary elections , the Swedish People's Party received 4.5% of the vote and thus nine of the 200 seats in the Finnish parliament. The party was involved in Matti Vanhanen's government with the Center Party , the Rally Party and the Greens . The then party chairman Stefan Wallin became Minister of Culture and Sports, Astrid Thors Minister of Europe. From 2011 to 2012 Wallin was a member of the new Katainen government as Minister of Defense. Wallin then left party chairmanship and ministerial posts to his successor, Carl Haglund .

In the European elections in Finland in 2009 , the SFP achieved 6.1% of the vote and sent Carl Haglund, a member of the European Parliament . He was a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe . In 2012, Nils Torvalds took over for him .

The parliamentary elections in 2011 brought the party slight losses compared to 2007. However, with 4.3% of the vote, it held its nine seats. In contrast to most other parties, the increase in the votes of the base Finns in the Swedish People's Party did not lead to losses. The party performed best in the constituency of Vaasa, where it was the second strongest force behind the center with 19.4%. In Uusimaa the Sfp received 8.3%, in Helsinki and Varsinais-Suomi 5.8 and 5.5% respectively.

In the local elections in Finland in 2012 , the Sfp kept its share at 4.7%. The party achieved the strongest results in Korsnäs (95.0%), Närpes (90.6%) and Vörå (88.1%) in the Vaasa area . In the 2015 parliamentary elections , she won nine seats with a slight gain in votes.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steget före ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PDF on the sfp website, accessed on July 8, 2012 
2. ^ Hufvudstadsbladet July 2, 2012, accessed July 8, 2012
3. ↑ Election results for Houtskär , Iniö and Korpo (Finnish Ministry of Justice)
4. ^ Hufvudstadsbladet June 10, 2012, accessed July 8, 2012

Web links

• Official website (Swedish, Finnish)