Finnish parliamentary election, 2015

Finnish parliamentary election, 2015
Finland
19 April 2015

All 200 seats to the Parliament
101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 70.1%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Juha Sipilä Timo Soini Alexander Stubb
Party Centre Finns National Coalition
Leader since 2012 1997 2014
Last election 35 seats, 15.8% 39 seats, 19.1% 44 seats, 20.4%
Seats won 49 38 37
Seat change Increase 14 Decrease 1 Decrease 7
Popular vote 626,218 524,054 540,212
Percentage 21.1% 17.7% 18.2%
Swing Increase 5.3% Decrease 1.4% Decrease 2.2%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Antti Rinne Ville Niinistö Paavo Arhinmäki
Party Social Democratic Green League Left Alliance
Leader since 2014 2011 2009
Last election 42 seats, 19.1% 10 seats, 7.3% 14 seats, 8.1%
Seats won 34 15 12
Seat change Decrease 8 Increase 5 Decrease 2
Popular vote 490,102 253,102 211,702
Percentage 16.5% 8.5% 7.1%
Swing Decrease 2.6% Increase 1.3% Decrease 1.0%

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Carl Haglund Päivi Räsänen Mats Löfström
Party Swedish People's Christian Democrat Åland Coalition
Leader since 2012 2004
Last election 9 seats, 4.3% 6 seats, 4.0% 1 seat, 0.3%
Seats won 9 5 1
Seat change Steady 0 Decrease 1 Steady 0
Popular vote 144,802 105,134 10,910
Percentage 4.9% 3.5% 0.4%
Swing Increase 0.6% Decrease 0.5% Steady 0.0%

Prime Minister before election

Alexander Stubb
National Coalition

Elected Prime Minister

Juha Sipilä
Centre

The 2015 Finnish parliamentary election was held on 19 April 2015,[1] with advance voting from 8 to 14 April.[2] The 200 members of the Finnish Parliament were elected with the proportional D'Hondt method.

There were 4,463,333 people entitled to vote in Finland and abroad.[3]

Background

Previous government parties

The incumbent government was formed by a four party coalition, composed of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats as well as the MP for Åland. Left Alliance and the Green League were initially also part of the governing coalition, but both left in 2014.

On 22 June 2011, the parliament elected Jyrki Katainen as prime minister by a vote of 118–72; two Left Alliance MPs voted against Katainen, for which they were formally reprimanded by the Left Alliance parliamentary group. They were subsequently expelled from the group, reducing the government majority from 126 MPs to 124. In March 2014 the Left Alliance announced that it was leaving the cabinet, citing the party's opposition to budget cuts in social welfare programs, which had been agreed to by the other five parties.[4] This reduced the government's majority to 112 MPs.

In April 2014 Jyrki Katainen announced that he would not seek another term as the chairman of the National Coalition Party. The NCP chose Alexander Stubb as its new chairman in June, and he subsequently became the new Prime Minister. In September 2014 the Green League announced that it was leaving the cabinet. The Greens were opposed to the other governing parties' decision to grant Fennovoima a licence for building a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki.[5] The Greens' departure cut the government's majority to 102 MPs (including the Speaker of the Parliament, who does not vote).[6]

Changes to the electoral districts

Electoral districts in the 2015 election

In 2013 the parliament decided to merge certain electoral districts to create larger districts: the electoral districts of Northern Savonia and North Karelia have been merged into a new district called Savonia-Karelia, while the electoral districts of Kymi and Southern Savonia have been merged into a new district called South-Eastern Finland.[7]

Electoral district Seats
01 Helsinki 22
02 Uusimaa 35
03 Finland Proper 17
04 Satakunta 8
05 Åland 1
06 Tavastia 14
07 Pirkanmaa 19
08 South-East Finland 17
09 Savonia-Karelia 16
10 Vaasa 16
11 Central Finland 10
12 Oulu 18
13 Lapland 7

Opinion polling

Taloustutkimus opinion polling since 2011 election.

Results

Largest party by municipality:
  Centre Party
  Finns Party
  National Coalition Party
  Social Democratic Party
  Left Alliance
  Swedish People's Party/Åland Coalition
  Christian Democrats
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Centre Party626,21821.1049+14
Finns Party524,05417.6538–1
National Coalition Party540,21218.2037–7
Social Democratic Party490,10216.5134–8
Green League253,1028.5315+5
Left Alliance211,7027.1312–2
Swedish People's Party of Finland144,8024.8890
Christian Democrats105,1343.545–1
Åland Coalition10,9100.3710
Pirate Party25,0860.8500
Independence Party13,6380.4600
Communist Party7,5290.2500
Change 20117,4420.2500
Pirkanmaa Joint List2,4690.080New
Liberals for Åland1,2770.0400
Communist Workers' Party1,1000.0400
Workers' Party9840.0300
For the Poor6230.0200
Independents2,0750.0700
Total2,968,4591002000
Valid votes2,968,45999.48
Invalid/blank votes15,3970.52
Total votes cast2,983,856100
Registered voters in Finland/turnout in Finland4,221,23770.1
Registered voters overall/turnout overall4,463,33366.9
Source: Ministry of Justice, YLE
Popular vote
KESK
 
21.10%
KOK
 
18.20%
PS
 
17.65%
SDP
 
16.51%
VIHR
 
8.53%
VAS
 
7.13%
RKP
 
4.88%
KD
 
3.54%
Others
 
2.46%
Parliament seats
KESK
 
24.50%
PS
 
19.00%
KOK
 
18.50%
SDP
 
17.00%
VIHR
 
7.50%
VAS
 
6.00%
RKP
 
4.50%
KD
 
2.50%
Others
 
0.50%

Government formation

As the leader of the largest party, Juha Sipilä of Centre was tasked with forming the new government coalition. In early May Sipilä announced that he will seek to form a right-leaning majority coalition consisting of the three largest parties – the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party.[8] The coalition negotiations were successful and led to the formation of the Sipilä cabinet on 29 May.

Notes

    References

    1. "Finnish Parliamentary Elections 2015" (PDF). vaalit.fi. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
    2. "Advance voting begins ahead of parliamentary elections". yle.fi. Yle News English. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
    3. "People entitled to vote". vaalit.fi. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
    4. Vasemmistoliitto lähtee hallituksesta YLE, 25 March 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
    5. Fennovoiman periaatepäätös hyväksyttiin, vihreät jättää hallituksen Helsingin Sanomat, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
    6. Vihreät ulos hallituksesta – "Mieli on raskas ja pettynyt" YLE, 18 September 2014, accessed 18 September 2014.
    7. Vaalipiiriuudistus lyötiin lukkoon eduskunnassa YLE, 6 March 2013, accessed 18 September 2014.
    8. Sipilä opts for right-leaning government, YLE News 7 May 2015, accessed 7 May 2015.

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