Parliamentary elections were held 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...

 on 1 and 2 July 1939.

Background

The leading issues of the 1939 Finnish parliamentary election, held on 1 and 2 July, were the distribution of the growing prosperity's benefits, the prospects for the centre-left coalition government's continuation, the right-wing opposition's criticism of the government's numerous and allegedly poorly prepared legislative proposals, and the Finnish national security under the threat of World War II. Prime Minister Cajander opposed the notable increase of defence spending before the elections, because that would require raising taxes. Finance Minister Tanner and Governor of the Bank of Finland, Risto Ryti, opposed the taking of a foreign loan to buy modern military equipment for the Finnish army, although the Finnish national debt in 1939 was among the lowest in the Western world. Most Finnish voters were apparently satisfied with the centre-left Cajander government's performance, because it received almost three-quarters of the seats. The voter turnout was the highest of the Finnish parliamentary elections of the 1920s and 1930s. After the elections, the Cajander government continued in office. It would be replaced by Prime Minister Risto Ryti's (Progressive) war government in December 1939.

Results

Turnout	66.6%	+3.7

party	seats		votes
			proportion		amount
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...	85	+2	39.77%	+1.2	515,980	+63,229
Agrarian League Centre Party (Finland) The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...	56	+3	22.86%	+0.5	296,529	+33,612
National Coalition Party National Coalition Party (Finland) The National Coalition Party is a liberal conservative political party in Finland founded in 1918.The National Coalition Party is one of the four largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the True Finns...	25	+5	13.58%	+3.2	176,215	+54,596
Swedish People's Party	18	−3	9.61%	−1.6	124,720	−6,720
Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Movement (Finland) Patriotic People's Movement, abbreviated to IKL), was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapuan liike...	8	−6	6.65%	−1.7	86,219	−11,672
National Progressive Party National Progressive Party (Finland) The National Progressive Party was a liberal political party in Finland from 1918 to 1951. The party was founded December 8 1918, after the Finnish Civil War, by the republican majority of the Young Finnish Party and the republican minority of the Finnish Party...	6	−1	4.81%	−1.5	62 387	−11,267
Party of Smallholders and Rural People	2	--a	2.14%	−0.5a	27,783	−2 825a
Swedish Left Swedish Left The Liberal Swedish Party was a political party in Finland, working amongst the Swedish-speaking minority. The party founded in 1919 under the name of Swedish Left until the 1947...			0.46%	–	5,980	–
Others			0.12%	−0.1	1,506	−996
Total	200	--	100%		1,297,319	+123,937
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004 a Compared with the combined result of Smallholders Party of Finland and People's Party.