1951 Finnish parliamentary election

1–2 July 1951

All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Emil Skog V. J. Sukselainen Kusti Kulo
Party SDP Agrarian SKDL
Last election 26.32%, 54 seats 24.24%, 56 seats 19.98%, 38 seats
Seats won 53 51 43
Seat change Decrease 1 Decrease 5 Increase 5
Popular vote 480,754 421,613 391,134
Percentage 26.52% 23.26% 21.58%
Swing Increase 0.20pp Increase 0.98pp Increase 1.60pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Arvo Salminen Ralf Törngren Eino Saari
Party National Coalition RKP People's
Last election 17.04%, 33 seats 7.34%, 13 seats 3.91%, 5 seats
Seats won 28 14 10
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 1 Increase 5
Popular vote 264,044 131,719 102,933
Percentage 14.57% 7.27% 5.68%
Swing Decrease 2.47pp Decrease 0.07pp Increase 1.77pp

  Seventh party
 
Party ÅS
Last election 0.35%, 1 seat
Seats won 1
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 5,686
Percentage 0.31%
Swing Decrease 0.04pp

Prime Minister before election

Urho Kekkonen
Agrarian

Prime Minister after election

Urho Kekkonen
Agrarian

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1951.[1]

Background

Urho Kekkonen of the Agrarian League had served as Prime Minister since March 1950, after losing the February 1950 presidential election to President Juho Kusti Paasikivi.

Kekkonen had governed first with the Swedish People's Party and National Progressive Party, but in January 1951 the Social Democratic Party had joined his government. The rationing of goods was ending gradually and the war reparation payments to the Soviet Union were to be completed by 1952. Prime Minister Kekkonen sought to reduce inflation by persuading the employers' organizations and labour unions to refrain from wage increases for the time being. In May 1951, these organizations agreed not to raise wages or prices for five months. During this "castle peace" or civic peace, the Social Democrats took most leadership positions in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions.

The communist Finnish People's Democratic League benefited from the fact that the Social Democrats had agreed to govern with the Agrarians, and had thus "betrayed" (according to some Communists' campaign rhetoric) their fellow left-wingers. The economy's and inflation rate's stabilization possibly hurt the low-income workers (a likely constituency of the Communists) more than the white-collar workers or the businessmen, and this could partly explain the Communists' gain of five deputies. The People's Party of Finland had been formed as the Progressives' successor, and this fresh start can have contributed to its five-seat gain. After the elections, Kekkonen continued to serve as Prime Minister, forming his third government in September 1951. He introduced a new economic stabilization programme, which tied the prices and wages to an automatic full compensation.[2]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party480,75426.5253–1
Agrarian League421,61323.2651–5
Finnish People's Democratic League391,13421.5843+5
National Coalition Party264,04414.5728–5
Swedish People's Party131,7197.2714+1
People's Party of Finland102,9335.6810+5
Åland Coalition5,6860.3110
Small Farmers Party4,9640.2700
Liberal League4,9360.270New
Radical People's Party4,4860.2500
Finnish People's Party2430.010New
Others3050.020
Total1,812,817100.002000
Valid votes1,812,81799.29
Invalid/blank votes12,9620.71
Total votes1,825,779100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,448,23974.58
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004,[3] Suomen virallinen tilasto[4]

By electoral district

Electoral district Total
seats
Seats won
SDP ML SKDL Kok RKP SK ÅS
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 12 4 5 2 1
Häme 14 5 2 3 3 1
Kymi 15 6 4 2 3
Lapland 8 1 3 3 1
North Karelia 11 4 3 2 1 1
North Savo 13 2 5 4 1 1
North Vaasa 8 1 3 1 1 2
Oulu 18 2 8 6 1 1
Pirkanmaa 13 5 1 4 3
Satakunta 15 4 4 4 3
South Savo 12 4 5 1 1 1
South Vaasa 10 1 3 1 2 3
Uusima 33 10 2 6 5 7 3
Varsinais-Suomi 17 4 3 4 2 2 2
Total 200 53 51 43 28 14 10 1
Source: Statistics Finland[5]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds. (2003) A Small Giant of the Finnish History WSOY, pp803-808
  3. File "595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
  4. Suomen virallinen tilasto 29 A, Kansanedustajain vaalit, XXII(?).
  5. Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:23: Eduskuntavaalit vuonna 1951. Statistics Finland. 1952.
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