Issues, Campaign and Results

The Russian Czar (Emperor) Nicholas II dissolved the first modern and democratic Finnish Parliament after its Speaker, Mr. Pehr E. Svinhufvud (Young Finn) refused, in the Czar´s opinion, to show enough respect for him when speaking at the parliamentary session´s opening. In 1908, the Russian government re-started its unification (Russification) policy in Finland, that is, the limitation of Finland´s self-government. Most Finns, including most Finnish parliamentarians, opposed the Russification, but disagreed on the means to effectively oppose it. The Social Democrats´voters hoped for many positive results from their party´s work in Parliament, such as the growing prosperity of workers and tenant farmers, but would be disappointed during the next several elections. The other parliamentary parties, with the partial exception of Agrarians, considered the Social Democrats´demands, such as an eight-hour workday, too radical to be implemented while Finland was trying to save its self-government. Parliament had no official control over the government, which was responsible only to the Czar and to the Governor-General (the Czar´s highest representative in Finland). The Parliament´s legislative power was also limited by the Czar´s ability to veto its laws, without a time limit on his consideration whether to veto the laws or not (see, for example, Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujattilainen, Helsinki: WSOY, 2003; Allan Tiitta and Seppo Zetterberg, eds., Finland Through the Ages / Suomi kautta aikojen, Helsinki: Reader´s Digest Ltd., 1992).

Turnout	64.4%	-6.3	http://www.stat.fi/til/evaa/2003/evaa_2003_2004-05-31_tau_005.html & http://www.vaalit.fi/uploads/rfsvyrtb.pdf

Party	Seats	%	Votes
Social Democratic Party of Finland Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...	83	38.40%	310,826
Finnish Party Finnish Party The Finnish Party was a Fennoman conservative political party in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland and independent Finland. Born out of Finland's language strife in the 1860s, the party sought to improve the position of the Finnish language in Finnish society...	55	25.44%	205,892
Young Finnish Party Young Finnish Party The Young Finnish Party or Constitutional-Fennoman Party was a liberal and nationalist political party in the Grand Duchy of Finland...	26	14.23%	115,201
Swedish People's Party	24	12.74%	103,146
Agrarian League	10	6.39%	51,756
Christian Workers' League	2	2.33%	18,848
Others		0.47%	3,772
Total	200	100%	809,441
Source: Suomen virallinen tilasto 29 A, 8 (Tilastollinen päätoimisto), s. 35.