1999 Finnish parliamentary election

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1999 Finnish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 21 March 1999.[1] Despite suffering significant losses, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) remained the largest party of the Eduskunta and Paavo Lipponen remained Prime Minister.

Quick Facts All 200 seats in Parliament 101 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...
1999 Finnish parliamentary election

 1995 21 March 1999 2003 

All 200 seats in Parliament
101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout65.3%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Paavo Lipponen Esko Aho Sauli Niinistö
Party SDP Centre National Coalition
Last election 63 seats, 28.3% 44 seats, 19.9% 39 seats, 17.9%
Seats won 51 48 46
Seat change 12 4 7
Popular vote 612,963 600,592 563,835
Percentage 22.9% 22.4% 21.0%
Swing 5.4pp 2.6pp 3.1pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Suvi-Anne Siimes Satu Hassi Jan-Erik Enestam
Party Left Alliance Green RKP
Last election 22 seats, 11.2% 9 seats, 6.5% 11 seats, 5.1%
Seats won 20 11 11
Seat change 2 2 0
Popular vote 291,675 194,846 137,330
Percentage 10.9% 7.3% 5.1%
Swing 0.3pp 0.8pp 0.0pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Bjarne Kallis Risto Kuisma Timo Soini
Party Christian League Reform Finns
Last election 7 seats, 3.0% New party 1 seat, 1.3% (SMP)
Seats won 10 1 1
Seat change 3 1 0
Popular vote 111,835 28,549 26,440
Percentage 4.2% 1.1% 1.0%
Swing 1.1pp 1.1pp 0.3pp


Prime Minister before election

Paavo Lipponen
SDP

Prime Minister after election

Paavo Lipponen
SDP

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Background

Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's five-party "rainbow government" consisting of the SDP, National Coalition Party, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party and the Green League had been in power since April 1995. It had managed to keep Finland's economy growing, to reduce the state's budget deficit and to create jobs, although it had failed to halve the unemployment rate: in 1995, the unemployment had been 15.4% and in 1999, it still stood at 10.2%. This was, as the governing parties pointed out, still a better record than the previous centre-right government's performance; during its term between 1991 and 1995, the unemployment had risen from 6.6% to 15.4%.

Campaign

Summarize
Perspective

The largest opposition party, the Centre Party, tried to become the largest party overall, and to re-join the government. They called for labour reform, which they claimed would make it easier for employers to hire new employees and for small enterprises to operate. Finland's largest labour unions rejected the proposed work reform, claiming that it would reduce the employees' job security and would excessively increase the employers' power. The Centrists also accused the government of not improving the Finnish economy enough, and of not slowing down sufficiently the large internal migration of Finns from the rural towns and small cities to the large economic growth centres, like the Helsinki and Tampere regions.

Several parties hired as their candidates previously non-political or only locally politically active celebrities, such as Leena Harkimo, the manager of Helsinki's ice hockey team Jokerit, Lasse Virén, a former long-distance running Olympic champion, and Anni Sinnemäki, the songwriter of pop music group Ultra Bra. Some of these celebrities got elected. After the elections, Prime Minister Lipponen formed a new government of the same five parties. Only one of those parties left the government during the parliamentary term 1999-2003: the Greens moved into the opposition in May 2002, when the Parliament approved the construction of Finland's fifth nuclear power plant.[2][3]

Results

More information Party, Votes ...
Thumb
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Social Democratic Party612,96322.8651−12
Centre Party600,59222.4048+4
National Coalition Party563,83521.0346+7
Left Alliance291,67510.8820−2
Green League194,8467.2711+2
Swedish People's Party137,3305.12110
Finnish Christian League111,8354.1710+3
Reform Group28,5491.061New
Young Finns28,0841.050−2
Finns Party26,4400.991New
Communist Party20,4420.760New
Ecological Party the Greens10,3780.390−1
Alliance for Free Finland10,1040.3800
Liberals for Åland5,8700.2210
Pensioners for People5,4510.2000
Liberal People's Party5,1940.1900
Pensioners' Party4,4810.1700
Natural Law Party3,9030.1500
Åland CentreFreemindedNon-aligned3,6780.1400
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism3,4550.1300
Åland Social Democrats9240.0300
Others11,2620.420
Total2,681,291100.002000
Valid votes2,681,29198.94
Invalid/blank votes28,8041.06
Total votes2,710,095100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,152,43065.27
Source: Tilastokeskus,[4] ASUB
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By electoral district

More information Electoral district, Total seats ...
Electoral district Total
seats
Seats won
SDP Kesk Kok Vas Vihr RKP SKL Rem PS L
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 10 3 4 1 1 1
Häme 13 4 2 4 1 1 1
Helsinki 20 5 1 7 1 4 2
Kymi 13 5 3 3 1 1
Lapland 8 1 4 1 2
North Karelia 7 4 2 1
North Savo 10 2 4 2 1 1
Oulu 18 2 9 2 3 1 1
Pirkanmaa 16 4 2 5 3 1 1
Satakunta 10 3 2 2 2 1
South Savo 8 3 3 2
Uusima 32 8 3 9 3 3 4 1 1
Vaasa 17 3 6 2 4 1 1
Varsinais-Suomi 17 4 3 5 2 1 1 1
Total 200 51 48 46 20 11 11 10 1 1 1
Source: Statistics Finland[5]
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By province

More information Province, Social Democratic ...
Province Social Democratic Centre National Coalition Left Alliance Green League Swedish People's Christian League Reform Group Young Finns True Finns Communist Electorate Votes Valid Invalid
Southern Savonia26,02930,23114,7782,2844,19505,1375380578168132,33585,64184,8031,019
Northern Savonia24,88945,22620,32317,7315,86105,7495717473,4671,140198,391127,436126,6111,143
Northern Karelia32,46726,7269,9234,4573,72405,5793082,1621,392688133,38988,82588,243790
Kainuu4,01020,5934,51512,1501,192091945020133258370,68446,60046,201532
Uusimaa150,58555,513183,70058,35491,81960,28117,90312,34215,9091,2583,831962,873666,338663,8137,536
Eastern Uusimaa10,8794,8886,5892,3372,74813,8558711,67233513822366,33645,47945,170527
Southwest Finland54,98839,61663,75327,93918,17811,8815,4211,0101,8085871,640344,072236,766235,2032,465
Tavastia Proper24,86616,31020,8036,7705,80808,514556487162571127,72887,77686,7831,184
Päijänne Tavastia26,37415,56927,4819,4005,933366,9231,027313679591153,10897,46396,6561,134
Kymenlaakso34,44819,21924,9318,3115,45605,0495840178657149,27199,97899,4121,068
South Karelia22,17219,43317,4152,4693,75104,1754030465572108,57671,95871,337849
Central Finland33,74441,45920,22316,8167,11624710,8758491,7683001,082202,050136,420135,4551,461
Southern Ostrobothnia15,04152,12821,7113,8211,9441924,06357408,402272150,517110,174109,683807
Ostrobothnia15,0519,7418,8096,2302,36947,3344,69424101,371334131,97996,95296,955781
Satakunta36,72230,58727,94320,4154,044106,0848233852478188,315130,669129,5181,476
Pirkanmaa55,56936,27856,91836,80016,123010,8172,0733,1171,3852,927343,944236,491234,8232,487
Central Ostrobothnia6,09016,0323,2881,8227443,2084,62883901,70114453,39939,08038,906376
Northern Ostrobothnia25,16476,61120,37625,47611,99403,1193,0531,2342,6354,136263,201178,469177,4981,898
Lapland13,87544,43210,35628,0931,8472861,3156360558405148,965103,754103,7491,122
Åland0000000000019,13210,46510,472149
Source: European Election Database Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine
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References

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