1968 Finnish presidential election

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1968. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college.^[1] They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won on the first ballot.^[2] The turnout for the popular vote was 70%.^[3]

1968 Finnish presidential election

← 1962 15–16 January 1968 1978 →
Turnout	70.16%
Candidate Urho Kekkonen Matti Virkkunen Veikko Vennamo Party Centre National Coalition Rural Party Electoral vote 201 66 33 Popular vote 1,221,078 482,693 231,959
President before election Urho Kekkonen Centre Elected President Urho Kekkonen Centre

Kekkonen's two opponents, the centre-right National Coalition Party's candidate Director of the National Commercial Bank Matti Virkkunen and the populist Finnish Rural Party's leader Veikko Vennamo, criticized him for governing Finland in a too autocratic way.

Vennamo in particular accused Kekkonen of pursuing a too dependent and servile foreign policy towards the Soviet Union. Since almost thirty per cent of the eligible Finnish voters abstained from voting, there was some underlying discontent with the presidential candidates, or Kekkonen's wide lead over his two opponents. Notably, the National Coalitioners and Ruralists - both opposition parties at the time - gained clearly higher percentages of the popular vote than in the 1966 Finnish parliamentary elections. This foreshadowed their major gains in the 1970 Finnish parliamentary elections. Although during this presidential campaign, Kekkonen promised not to run for president again,^[4][5][6][7] however, he extended his presidential term in 1973 and ran nearly unopposed in 1978.

Results

Inauguration ceremony for the Urho Kekkonen precidency in 1968. Here the President meets the representants of diplomats. Behind him, the Prime minister Ahti Karjalainen

Popular vote

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen		Centre Party	421,197	20.66	65
			Finnish People's Democratic League	345,609	16.95	56
			Social Democratic Party	315,068	15.46	55
			Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders	46,833	2.30	6
			Swedish People's Party	2,568	0.13	0
			Independents	21,425	1.05	1
		Total		1,152,700	56.54	183
	Electoral Union of Matti Virkkunen		National Coalition Party	432,014	21.19	58
			Independents	6,787	0.33	2
		Total		438,801	21.52	60
	Electoral Union of Veikko Vennamo			231,282	11.35	33
	Electoral Union of SFP		Supporters of Urho Kekkonen	68,378	3.35	9
			Supporters of Matti Virkkunen	43,892	2.15	6
			Supporters of Veikko Vennamo	677	0.03	0
		Total		112,947	5.54	15
	Electoral Union of LKP			102,831	5.04	9
	Others			31	0.00	0
Total				2,038,592	100.00	300
Valid votes				2,038,592	99.49
Invalid/blank votes				10,410	0.51
Total votes				2,049,002	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				2,920,635	70.16
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Urho Kekkonen	Centre Party	201	67.00
	Matti Virkkunen	National Coalition Party	66	22.00
	Veikko Vennamo	Finnish Rural Party	33	11.00
Total			300	100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p. 630
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p. 624
4. Timo Vihavainen, "The Welfare Finland" (Hyvinvointi-Suomi), pp. 859–861 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen. Helsinki: WSOY, 2003
5. Pentti Virrankoski, A History of Finland / Suomen historia, volumes 1&2. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), 2009, p. 961
6. Martti Häikiö, The Election of President / Presidentin valinta, p. 96. Porvoo: WSOY, 1993
7. What-Where-When: A Citizen's Yearbook (Mitä-Missä-Milloin - Kansalaisen vuosikirja) 1969, p. 140. Helsinki: Otava Ltd., 1968