Finnish parliamentary election, 1954
Encyclopedia
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland
on 7 and 8 March 1954.
Mr. Sakari Tuomioja, a member of the League of Liberals who had earlier served in the government, for example as Foreign Minister, and had been Governor of the Bank of Finland since 1945, formed a centre-right caretaker government. Tuomioja's government wanted to keep rationing wages, but wanted to dismantle other types of rationing. Coffee was released from rationing in March 1954. Finnish exports grew, and the government's expenditures increased by over 20 percent compared to Kekkonen's fourth government's proposal. Various right-wingers and Social Democrats preferred early elections to boost their number of deputies, and to prevent Kekkonen from becoming Prime Minister again. Given President Paasikivi's advanced age (83 years) and close relations with Kekkonen, the latter could well succeed Paasikivi as President, should Paasikivi suddenly die or resign. The Social Democrats went to the election campaign trail with the lofty slogan: "Kekkonen Back to Kamppi St.(to the private life)!". To their surprise and to that of right-wingers, the Agrarians won two seats, while the Social Democrats, National Coalitioners and Swedish People's Party suffered a net loss of five seats. Mr. Ralf Törngren (Swedish People's Party) formed a centre-left government in May 1954, with Kekkonen as Foreign Minister. The Central Federation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) favoured the lowering of living costs, through subsidies, to the start level of the economic stabilization period. The Social Democrats and Agrarians agreed and, dissatisfied with Prime Minister Törngren's economic compromises, caused Törngren to resign and Kekkonen to become Prime Minister for the fifth time in October 1954.
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 7 and 8 March 1954.
Background
In June 1953, Prime Minister Kekkonen had presented a simultaneous deflationary program, which tried to lower wages, prices and public expenditures to the level of the export industry's profitability. Among other proposals, the deflationary program aimed to remove the Finnish parents' family allowances for their first children, reduce the income, sales and corporate taxes, cut the interest rate, and reduce the wages by ten percent. Finance Minister Juho Niukkanen (Agrarian) presented to Parliament in September 1953 an austerity budget, which proposed to cut all major government expenditures by 15 percent. The Social Democrats and People's Party (Liberals) opposed the austerity budget. Since Parliament refused to approve the government's planned changes to the state-subsidized apartment buildings' and other residences' construction, Kekkonen resigned in November 1953. Despite President Paasikivi's urgings (in his opinion, Kekkonen was a valuable Prime Minister because he managed skillfully the Finnish-Soviet relations), the Social Democrats refused to allow Kekkonen to continue as Prime Minister.Mr. Sakari Tuomioja, a member of the League of Liberals who had earlier served in the government, for example as Foreign Minister, and had been Governor of the Bank of Finland since 1945, formed a centre-right caretaker government. Tuomioja's government wanted to keep rationing wages, but wanted to dismantle other types of rationing. Coffee was released from rationing in March 1954. Finnish exports grew, and the government's expenditures increased by over 20 percent compared to Kekkonen's fourth government's proposal. Various right-wingers and Social Democrats preferred early elections to boost their number of deputies, and to prevent Kekkonen from becoming Prime Minister again. Given President Paasikivi's advanced age (83 years) and close relations with Kekkonen, the latter could well succeed Paasikivi as President, should Paasikivi suddenly die or resign. The Social Democrats went to the election campaign trail with the lofty slogan: "Kekkonen Back to Kamppi St.(to the private life)!". To their surprise and to that of right-wingers, the Agrarians won two seats, while the Social Democrats, National Coalitioners and Swedish People's Party suffered a net loss of five seats. Mr. Ralf Törngren (Swedish People's Party) formed a centre-left government in May 1954, with Kekkonen as Foreign Minister. The Central Federation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) favoured the lowering of living costs, through subsidies, to the start level of the economic stabilization period. The Social Democrats and Agrarians agreed and, dissatisfied with Prime Minister Törngren's economic compromises, caused Törngren to resign and Kekkonen to become Prime Minister for the fifth time in October 1954.
Results
| Turnout | 79.9% | +5.3 |
|---|
| 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... |
54 | +1 | 26.25% | −0.3 | 527,094 | +46,340 | |
| 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... |
53 | +2 | 24.10% | +0.8 | 483,958 | +62,345 | |
| 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... |
43 | -- | 21.57% | −0.0 | 433,251 | +42,117 | |
| 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... |
24 | −4 | 12.80% | −1.8 | 257,025 | −7,019 | |
| People's Party of Finland | 13 | +3 | 7.88% | +2.2 | 158,323 | +55,390 | |
| Swedish People's Party | 12 | −2 | 6.76% | −0.4 | 135,768 | +5,244 | |
| Liberal League Vapaamielisten Liitto Liberal League was a Finnish liberal political party. VL existed from 1951 until 1965.The party was founded in spring 1951 by the minority of National Progressive Party, led by Helsinki group, as the party finished its existence. Most of the former Progressive party members joined the People's... |
0.34% | +0.1 | 6,810 | +1,874 | |||
| Åländsk Samling | 1 | - | 0.23% | −0.1 | 4,651 | −1,035 | |
| Smallholders Party Small Farmers Party Party of Smallholders and Rural People , later renamed as the Small Farmers Party , was a political party in Finland. The party was founded in Seinäjoki on December 20, 1936, through the unification of Smallholders' Party of Finland , People's Party and Central League of Recession Committees... |
0.05% | −0.2 | 1,040 | −3,924 | |||
| Others | 0.02% | −0.0 | 337 | +32 | |||
| Total | 200 | -- | 100% | 2,008,257 | +195,440 | ||
| Source: Tilastokeskus 2004 | |||||||