Year 1958 Eduskunta election took place 6–7 July 1958. As the result of the election Democratic Alliance of the Finnish People has been one of a few cases for a communist party to have become the dominant party in a Western European country during the Cold War. However, coalition government was formed without Communists' participation.

The Issues, Campaign and Results

Between March 1956, when Urho Kekkonen (Agrarian) had become President and July 1958, the date of this parliamentary election, Finland had had four governments:
Fagerholm's (Social Democrat) majority government, V.J. Sukselainen's (Agrarian) minority government, and two civil-service caretaker governments, led by the Governor of the Bank of Finland, Rainer von Fieandt and the Chief Justice of Finland's Supreme Administrative Court, Reino Kuuskoski. The Social Democrats and Agrarians found it difficult to work together in the government, which significantly reduced Finland's chances of having a stable government, because the two other large or fairly large parties, the Communists and National Coalitioners, were excluded from the government. In addition, the Social Democrats had been split into two parties since Mr. Väinö Tanner, a veteran Social Democrat and a former political prisoner (one of the eight "war culprits" after World War II), had very narrowly been elected the Social Democratic leader over Fagerholm in July 1957. The Social Democrats were among Kekkonen's chief opponents and wanted to defeat him in the 1962 presidential election. President Kekkonen wanted to defeat them politically, and thus their split into the majority and the minority, the so-called Skogists (after former Defence Minister Emil Skog) helped him move closer towards that goal. In addition, Finland suffered from a recession and, by that time's standards, a high unemployment, which helped the Communists to increase their support. After these parliamentary elections, Fagerholm formed his third government, which included the Social Democrats, Agrarians, National Coalitioners, Swedish People's Party and Liberals (People's Party), in August 1958. Already when he appointed Fagerholm's government, President Kekkonen indicated that he would not help it if it encountered problems. Soon the government ran into difficulties: the Soviet Union interrupted its trade negotiations with Finland, and in November or December 1958, the Soviet ambassador to Finland returned to the Soviet Union. These "night frosts," along with President Kekkonen's and the other Agrarians' opposition (Foreign Minister Virolainen resigned from the government at the beginning of December 1958, and former Assistant Finance Minister Karjalainen wrote that it was time for the wise people to leave the government), caused Fagerholm to tender his resignation in December 1958. Sukselainen formed another centrist minority government in January 1959, while Kekkonen visited the Soviet Union where the Soviet leader Khrushchev assured him that all was again well in the Finnish-Soviet relations (see, for example, Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen, Helsinki: WSOY, 2003; Johannes Virolainen, The Last Electoral Term / Viimeinen vaalikausi, Helsinki: Otava, 1991; www.vn.fi (the Finnish government's website)).

Turnout	75.0%	−4.9

party	seats		votes
			oproportion		amount
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...	50	+7	23.16%	+1.6	450,220	+16,969
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...	48	−6	23.12%	−3.1	449,536	−77,558
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...	48	−5	23.06%	−1.0	448,364	−35,594
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...	29	+5	15.28%	+2.5	297,094	+40,069
Swedish People's Party	13	+1	6.50%	−0.3	126,365	−9,403
People's Party of Finland	8	−5	5.90%	−2.0	114,617	−43,706
Social Democratic Opposition	3	–	1.75%	–	33,947	–
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...			0.33%	−0.0	6,424	−386
Åländsk Samling	1	--	0.28%	+0.1	5,487	+836
Opposition of 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...			0.26%	–	5,057	–
Christian League of Finland			0.17%	–	3,358	–
List of Free Citizens and Centre			0.16%	–	3,033	–
List of Free Economy			0.02%	–	331	–
League of People's Cooperation			0.01%	–	160	–
Others			0.01%	−0.0	242	−95
Total	200	--	100%		1,944,235	−64,022
Souorce: Tilastokeskus 2004; Votes of Christian League of Finland, List of Free Citizens and Centre, List of Free Economy and League of People's Cooperation only in print version.