2019 Finnish parliamentary election

The incumbent government was formed by a three party center-right coalition, composed of the Centre Party, Finns Party and National Coalition Party.[7] On 28 May 2015, the parliament elected Juha Sipilä as prime minister by a vote of 128–62.[8]

After the Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal, support for the anti-immigration Finns Party surged from around 8.5% to 9% in late 2018 to 17.5% by the election.

The Social Democrats proposed raising taxes to fund the country's generous welfare system.[11]

The election saw "an unusual level of aggression on the campaign trail"[12] considering "attacks on politicians are rare in Finland".[13] In late March, a man struck Left Alliance candidate Suldaan Said Ahmed in the chest while calling him an infidel and pedophile[14] a day after a man wearing logos of far-right anti-immigrant group Soldiers of Odin attempted to attack Foreign Minister Timo Soini of the Blue Party.[13]

The 200 members of the Eduskunta were 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.[15] Compared to the last election in 2015, one seat has been reallocated from Savonia-Karelia to Uusimaa.

Electoral district	Seats
01 Helsinki	22
02 Uusimaa	36
03 Finland Proper	17
04 Satakunta	8
05 Åland	1
06 Tavastia	14
07 Pirkanmaa	19
08 South-East Finland	17
09 Savonia-Karelia	15
10 Vaasa	16
11 Central Finland	10
12 Oulu	18
13 Lapland	7

During election debates, the Social Democrats, the National Coalition Party, Green League, Left Alliance, and the Swedish People's Party stated that they were interested in joining a coalition that does not include the Finns Party.[16] Despite being ruled-out by five parties, Finns Party chairman Jussi Halla-aho said that all parties should show responsibility when forming a coalition. He said the most responsible way to form a coalition is to include the Finns Party.[16]

Two weeks later, SDP chairman Antti Rinne, who was expected to lead the government, sent a questionnaire to each of the other parties, to assess their positions on various topics such as basic income, collective bargaining, climate change or health care reform.[17] Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties, Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party.[18] The negotiations were ultimately successful, and the Rinne Cabinet was formally inaugurated on 6 June.[19]

• Arter, David (2020). "When a pariah party exploits its demonised status: the 2019 Finnish general election". West European Politics. 43: 260–273. doi:10.1080/01402382.2019.1635799. ISSN 0140-2382.
• Special issue of Scandinavian Political Studies on the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, Volume 42, Issue 3-4, 165-307, September‐December 2019