This article is about the Democratic Alternative of Finland. For other parties with the same name, see Democratic Alternative (disambiguation).

Democratic Alternative was a political party in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. Deva was formed in 1986 by expelled members of the Communist Party of Finland

Communist Party of Finland

The Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used...

 (SKP) and its mass front Finnish People's Democratic League

Finnish People's Democratic League

Finnish People's Democratic League was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party...

 (SKDL). In 1990 Deva disintegrated and its members joined the Left Alliance

Left Alliance (Finland)

The Left Alliance is a left-wing political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990....

, a merger of SKP and SKDL, founded earlier that year.

Deva consisted of Communist Party of Finland (Unity), Revolutionary Youth League

Revolutionary Youth League (Finland)

Vallankumouksellinen Nuorisoliitto , a political youth organization in Finland during the 1980s. VKN was the youth wing of Demokraattinen Vaihtoehto . VKN had 3,250 members at one point....

, Women's Democratic Action Centre

Women's Democratic Action Centre

Women's Democratic Action Centre was the women's wing of the leftist party Democratic Alternative in Finland 1987-1990. The organisation emerged of a split in the Democratic Women's League of Finland in the spring of 1986, as six SNDL districts sided with Deva...

, Socialist Students' League and Democratic Civic Association. The Socialist Workers' Party

Socialist Workers Party (Finland)

Socialist Workers' Party was a political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 1973 as split from Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders...

 (STP) had candidates on Deva list in the 1987 election but STP was never member of Deva.

Deva contested the 1987 parliamentary elections

Finnish parliamentary election, 1987

The Finnish parliamentary election of 1987 moved the country somewhat to the right. It was uncertain how far, because the voter participation rate--at a comparatively low 75 percent, 5 percent lower than usual--hurt the left more than the right and had a varying impact...

 and won 122 181 votes (4,24%). Marjatta Stenius-Kaukonen, Ensio Laine, Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi and Esko-Juhani Tennilä

Esko-Juhani Tennilä

Esko-Juhani Tennilä is Finnish leftist politician from Lapland and member of Parliament since 1975 until 2011.Tennilä was born in Rovaniemi and has studied in University of Tampere and worked as reporter for Hämeen Yhteistyö 1966–1975....

 were elected MPs. Jouko Kajanoja was the party candidate in the 1988 presidential election

Finnish presidential election, 1988

Presidential elections were held in Finland in 1988. They were the first elections held under the new system. Previously the public had elected an electoral college that in turn elected the President...

. Kajanoja gathered 44 428 votes (1,44 %). The electors on Deva list got 56 528 votes (1,89 %). In the 1988 local elections, 127 Deva councillors were elected to over 70 municipality councils. Their best results were in Karkkila

Karkkila

- External links :*...

 (19,6%, 7 councillors) and Nokia

Nokia, Finland

Nokia, Finland is a town and a municipality on the banks of the Nokianvirta River in the region of Pirkanmaa, some west of Tampere. As of it has a population of .-History:...

 (15,5%, 6). Deva also participated in trade union and cooperative elections.

Leaders

• Leo Suonpää 4/1986–12/1986
• Kristiina Halkola 1986–1989 (first female party chair in Finnish party history)
• Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi 1989–1990