1948 Finnish parliamentary election
1–2 July 1948
All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader V. J. Sukselainen Emil Skog Kusti Kulo
Party Agrarian SDP SKDL
Last election 49 seats, 21.35% 50 seats, 25.08% 49 seats, 23.47%
Seats won 56 54 38
Seat change Increase 7 Increase 4 Decrease 11
Popular vote 455,635 494,719 375,538
Percentage 24.24% 26.32% 19.98%
Swing Increase 2.89pp Increase 1.24pp Decrease 3.49pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Arvo Salminen Ralf Törngren Akseli Nikula
Party National Coalition RKP National Progressive
Last election 28 seats, 15.04% 14 seats, 7.90% 9 seats, 5.17%
Seats won 33 13 5
Seat change Increase 5 Decrease 1 Decrease 4
Popular vote 320,366 137,981 73,444
Percentage 17.04% 7.34% 3.91%
Swing Increase 2.00pp Decrease 0.56pp Decrease 1.26pp
  Seventh party
 
Party ÅS
Last election –
Seats won 1
Seat change new
Popular vote 6,567
Percentage 0.35%
Swing new
Prime Minister before election

Mauno Pekkala
SKDL

 Prime Minister after election

Karl-August Fagerholm
SDP

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1948.[1]

Background

The political atmosphere during the July 1948 Finnish parliamentary elections was heated. Many Finns across the party lines believed that the Communists and People's Democrats had pursued their goal of making Finland a solidly left-wing country too vigorously. They had even held the Prime Ministership since March 1946, with Mauno Pekkala serving in that position. They had organized many mass meetings, demanded the dismissal of "reactionary" (especially right-wing) civil servants and claimed that the Finnish government had to adopt even a friendlier relationship with the Soviet Union. They had vigorously supported the imprisonment of eight former top politicians, including former President Ryti, for "war guilt" (making decisions that resulted in the Continuation War of 1941 to 1944 between Finland, the Soviet Union and Germany). In the spring of 1948, there were even unproven rumours of an imminent coup attempt by the Finnish Communists. Some Finnish war veterans condemned the Communist Interior Minister Yrjö Leino for deporting to the Soviet Union Ingrian Finns, East Karelians and Estonians who had fought in the Finnish army during the Continuation War. The controversy over the treatment of these "prisoners of Leino", several of whom were Finnish citizens forced Leino to resign in May 1948. The Social Democrats election slogan was: "Enough Already: Price Hikes, Lying Promises, Opinion Terror and Forced Democracy." The Agrarian election slogan was: "On These Leans the Agrarian Union" under the Bible and the Finnish law. The National Coalitioners declared simply: "Be Free." These traditional democratic parties gained a total of 16 deputies in the election, while the Communists lost 11, compared to the 1945 election. After the election, the Finnish politics began to stabilize. The United States appreciated Finland's desire to remain a Western democracy, despite its close relationship with the Soviet Union, symbolized by the Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance Treaty (FCMA), which was signed in April 1948. After these parliamentary elections, the Social Democrats formed a minority government under Prime Minister Karl-August Fagerholm. They did not want to form a government with the Agrarians, claimed the late veteran Agrarian-Centrist politician Johannes Virolainen, because they feared that they would lose votes to the Communists in the next election. The Agrarians quietly supported Fagerholm's government.[2][3][4]

Results

Summary

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party494,71926.3254+4
Agrarian League455,63524.2456+7
Finnish People's Democratic League375,53819.9838–11
National Coalition Party320,36617.0433+5
Swedish People's Party137,9817.3413–1
National Progressive Party73,4443.915–4
Åland Coalition6,5670.351New
Small Farmers Party5,3780.2900
Radical People's Party5,1620.2700
Others5,1780.280–
Total1,879,968100.002000
Valid votes1,879,96899.27
Invalid/blank votes13,8690.73
Total votes1,893,837100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,420,28778.25
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004[5]

By electoral district

Electoral district Total
seats		 Seats won
ML SDP SKDL Kok RKP KE ÅS
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 11 4 3 2 2
Häme 11 2 4 2 3
Kymi 32 12 10 3 6 1
Lapland 8 4 1 2 1
North Karelia 10 4 4 1 1
North Savo 11 4 2 4 1
North Vaasa 8 3 1 1 1 2
Oulu 17 8 2 5 1 1
Pirkanmaa 12 1 5 3 3
Satakunta 13 3 4 3 3
South Savo 11 5 4 1 1
South Vaasa 10 3 1 1 2 3
Uusima 31 1 9 6 6 7 2
Varsinais-Suomi 14 2 4 4 2 1 1
Total 200 56 54 38 33 13 5 1
Source: Statistics Finland[6]

References

  1. ↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ↑ Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen, Helsinki: WSOY, 2003
  3. ↑ Pentti Virrankoski, Finland's History 1&2 / Suomen historia 1&2, Helsinki: Finnish Literary Society / Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, 2009
  4. ↑ Johannes Virolainen, The Last Electoral Term / Viimeinen vaalikausi, Helsinki: Otava, 1991
  5. ↑ Tiedosto "595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
  6. ↑ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:21: Eduskuntavaalit vuonna 1948. Statistics Finland. 1949.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.