Movement Now

Movement Now[3] (Finnish: Liike Nyt, Swedish: Rörelse nu) is an economically liberal political movement in Finland.[4] Movement Now was founded by then-National Coalition Party (NCP) member of parliament (MP) Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo and seven other people.

Movement Now
Finnish nameLiike Nyt
Swedish nameRörelse nu[1]
AbbreviationLIIK[2]
ChairpersonHarry Harkimo
FounderHarry Harkimo, Mikael Jungner, Alex Nieminen, Helene Auramo, Karoliina Kähönen, Sarian Antila, Tuomas Enbuske
Founded18 April 2018 (2018-04-18)
Split fromNational Coalition Party
HeadquartersAbrahaminkatu, Helsinki
Membership (2018)8,000
IdeologyEconomic liberalism
E-democracy
Direct democracy
ColorsFuchsia
Parliament of Finland
1 / 200
City council of Heinola
8 / 43
City council of Jämsä
6 / 43
Website
liikenyt.fi

History

On 19 April 2018, member of parliament (MP) Harry Harkimo announced that he would resign from his party, the NCP. On 21 April, he announced that he had founded a political movement of his own called Movement Now.[5] The movement had been founded by him and seven others and registered with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office one day before Harkimo's resignation from the NCP.[6] The seven founding members are Harkimo, former SDP party secretary Mikael Jungner, Alex Nieminen, Helene Auramo, Karoliina Kähönen, Sarian Antila, and Tuomas Enbuske.[7]

Harkimo subsequently formed a one-man parliamentary group,[2] the Liike Nyt-Movement's Parliamentary Group in the Parliament of Finland.[8] On 21 January 2019, an MP of the Blue Reform and former Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Maria Lohela announced that she would leave the Blue Reform in order to join Liike Nyt's parliamentary group.[9] In addition to the Parliament, the movement has gained members in municipalities. The group Parempi Heinola in the city assembly of Heinola joined Liike Nyt. With its eight members out of a total of 43, the movement is the largest in Heinola.[10][11] A similar association with the Uusi Jämsä group of Jämsä was agreed upon in August 2018. Uusi Jämsä was the third largest group in the city council when joining the movement with its six members.[12]

In the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, Harkimo was elected to the parliament as the sole representative from Movement Now.[13] 115 candidates stood for election, short of the movement's target of 150.[14] Besides Harkimo, candidates included another founder of the party Auramo, and the former's parliamentary assistant Mirita Saxberg.[15] Because the movement was not a registered party, each of its candidates had to gather signatures of at least 100 voters to form a constituency association.[14] The party used controversial microtargeting in its campaign advertising.[16]

In June 2019, Harkimo announced that the Movement Now would start collecting signed support cards in order to become a registered political party.[17] The Ministry of Justice announced on 14 November 2019 that Movement Now had been registered as a political party.[18]

Political stances

Thirty core principles were agreed upon by party members. Besides these, candidates are not aligned ideologically with the group and are allowed to take independent stances on local issues. Election themes include Baltic Sea clean up and social security for entrepreneurs.[19]

Election results

Parliamentary elections
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes Ref
2019 69,427 2.25%
1 / 200
 New [lower-alpha 1]

Organization

The movement has about 8,000 members.[20] Its headquarters are on Abrahaminkatu in Helsinki.[21] It employs four people full-time.[21] The chairperson of the movement is Harry Harkimo.[7]

Notes
  1. Previously held 2 seats after splitting from the National Coalition Party, but, lost 1 during the election.

See also

References
  1. "Här är listan på alla som är med i Harkimos nya rörelse". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). 23 April 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  2. Ijäs, Johannes (27 April 2018). "Harkimo (liik) siirretään perussuomalaisten ja keskustan väliin takariviin". Demokraatti (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  3. "Extra-parliamentary parties band together ahead of April elections". Yle News. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  4. Karkkola, Minna (7 May 2018). "Tutkija löysi paradoksin Hjallis Harkimon liikkeestä: 'Saadaanko tavoitteella tismalleen päinvastainen lopputulos?'". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  5. "NCP defector Harkimo co-founds new political movement – 'Not a party'". Yle Uutiset. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  6. Honkamaa, Antti; Nykänen, Riika (19 April 2018). "Harkimo on perustamassa uutta yhdistystä: Liike Nyt ry:n tiedoista paljastuu kiinnostava nimi". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  7. Räsänen, Jukka-Pekka (21 April 2018). "Nimet julki: he ovat Liike Nytin taustalla". Savon Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. "Members of Parliament". Parliament of Finland. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  9. "Kansanedustaja Maria Lohela loikkaa sinisistä Harkimon Liike Nytiin – sote-uudistus vaarassa kaatua". Yle. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  10. Nieminen, Janne (14 June 2018). "Parempi Heinola -yhdistys mukaan Liike Nytiin – Harkimon mukaan kiinnostusta on muuallakin, kuten Kärkölässä". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  11. "Valtuusto" (in Finnish). City of Heinola. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  12. "Harkimo kaappasi jo toisen valtuustoryhmän maakunnasta – Uusi Jämsä liittyy Liike Nytiin" (in Finnish). Yle. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  13. "Pienryhmistä ei eduskuntaan mennä, poikkeuksena vain Hjallis Harkimo". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  14. "Liike Nyt jäi tavoitteestaan – ei saanut kasaan 150 ehdokasta eduskuntavaaleihin". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). 6 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  15. Vartiainen, Niko; Nalbantoglu, Minna (7 January 2019). "Liike Nyt asetti ensimmäiset ehdokkaansa eduskuntavaaleihin". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  16. Mansikka, Ossi (14 March 2019). "Trumpin valinnan ja brexitin ratkaisi osin somessa tehtävä mikrotargetointi – Suomessa kaksi puoluetta tekee samaa". Nyt (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  17. "Harkimon Liike Nyt aikoo rekisteröityä puolueeksi – "Jouduin nöyrtymään"" (in Finnish). Yle. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  18. "Liike Nyt merkittiin puoluerekisteriin" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  19. "Movement Now announces parliamentary election bid". Yle Uutiset. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  20. Välimaa, Mikko (25 April 2018). "Harkimon ja Jungnerin Liike Nyt houkutellut liki 7 700 ihmistä – 'Haemme nyt aktiiveja Helsingin ulkopuolelle'". Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  21. Lohilahti, Oona (7 July 2018). "Liike Nyt on hankkinut toimiston ja työntekijöitä, ensi viikolla julkaistaan toisen nettiäänestyksen tulokset – siinä saattaa myös ratketa Harry Harkimon sote-kanta". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 30 July 2018.

Further reading
  • Harkimo, Hjallis (2018). Suoraan sanottuna (in Finnish). Helsinki: WSOY. ISBN 9789510436479.
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