Finnish parliamentary election, 2019

Finnish parliamentary election, 2019

14 April 2019
All 200 seats to the Parliament 101 seats needed for a majority
Leader Juha Sipilä Jussi Halla-aho Petteri Orpo[1] Party Centre Finns National Coalition Leader since 9 June 2012 10 June 2017 11 June 2016 Last election 49 seats, 21.1% 38 seats, 17.7% 37 seats, 18.2% Current seats 48 17 38   Leader Antti Rinne Touko Aalto Li Andersson[2] Party Social Democratic Green League Left Alliance Leader since 9 May 2014 17 June 2017 6 June 2016 Last election 34 seats, 16.5% 15 seats, 8.5% 12 seats, 7.1% Current seats 35 15 12   Leader Anna-Maja Henriksson[3] Sari Essayah[4] Sampo Terho Party Swedish People's Christian Democrat Blue Reform Leader since 12 June 2016 29 August 2015 16 December 2017 Last election 9 seats, 4.9% 5 seats, 3.5% Did not contest Current seats 9 5 18
Incumbent Prime Minister Juha Sipilä Centre

The 2019 Finnish parliamentary election is scheduled to be held on 14 April 2019.^[5]

The working committee, consisting of the party secretaries of all parliamentary parties, suggested in May 2017 that the parliamentary election should be organized simultaneously with the European Parliament election.^[6] However, the suggestion has not yet seen enough parliamentary support to pass and is currently under consideration of the Minister of Justice Antti Häkkänen.^[7]

Background

The incumbent government was formed by a three party center-right coalition, composed of the Centre Party, Finns Party and National Coalition Party.^[8] On 28 May 2015, the parliament elected Juha Sipilä as prime minister by a vote of 128–62.^[9]

On 10 June 2017, the Finns Party elected Jussi Halla-aho as the new leader of the party, after the long-time leader Timo Soini had decided to step down. Following the talks between the three coalition leaders, Sipilä and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo announced that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party. The collapse of government was averted on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's parliamentary group, forming what would eventually become the Blue Reform party. One MPa later returned to the Finns and Kaj Turunen defected to National Coalition Party, leaving the Blue Reform with 18 and Finns with 17 MPs. Sipilä's government retained a majority in the Parliament as the Blue Reform continued as a member of the coalition and the Finns Party was moved to the opposition.^[10]

Electoral system

Electoral districts in the 2015 election

The 200 members of the Eduskunta are elected using proportional representation in 13 multi-member constituencies, with seats allocated according to the d'Hondt method. The number of elected representatives is proportional to the population in the district six months prior to the elections. Åland has single member electoral district and its own party system.^[11]

Opinion polls

References