National Coalition Party (Finland)
Encyclopedia : N : NA : NAT : National Coalition Party (Finland)
| National Coalition | |
|---|---|
| |
| Name in Finnish | Kansallinen Kokoomus |
| Name in Swedish | Samlingspartiet |
| Leader | Jyrki Katainen |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Headquarters | Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 21 B 00100 HELSINKI |
| Political Ideology | Liberal conservatism |
| European Affiliation | European People's Party and European Democrat Union |
| International Affiliation | Christian Democrat and People's Parties International and International Democrat Union |
| Colours | Blue |
| Website | [www.kokoomus.fi] |
| See also | Finnish Politics Finnish Parliament Finnish Government Finnish President Political parties Elections |
The Coalition Party is one of the three biggest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democrats and the Centre Party. Its vote share has been around 20% in the Parliamentary elections in the 1990s and in 2003, and it currently holds 40 out of the 200 seats.
Although the party is clearly rightist, it harbours several different political currents, including social reformism (mainly in the Turku area), conservatism (mainly in northern Finland and Lapland), and liberalism (mainly in Helsinki). It is the one party most suspicious of the governmental bureaucracies and the political process interfering with business, championing the transfer of power above the parties, letting the entrepreneurial spirit flow freely. As regards traditional morality and established family institutions, it has had trouble reconciling staunch support for traditional family values and the liberal views of some of its members.
Up to the Bolshevist revolution in Russia, November 7th 1917, and the German Empire's dissolution, November 9th 1918, there existed two fennoman factions: one leaning towards Imperial Russia, and one leaning towards Imperial Germany. After 1917 most of them could unite in the National Coalition Party, and further tensions hovered around the degree of scepticism towards the Entente, the League of Nations, Democracy, multi party systems and Parliamentarism. Kokoomus was the party having the closest ties with the emerging Lapua Movement.
The party suffered division in the 1930s, in connection with the domestic Lapua Movement and the international fascism, when the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) was formed of members disapproving Paasikivi's outspoken pro-democratic line. IKL was later banned. Paasikivi's democracy-line was taken up again by the party leader Edwin Linkomies, Prime Minister 1943-1944 during the Continuation War, who however lost the party-group's confidence and wasn't re-elected as chairman.
A minor division in the 1950s led to the formation of the Christian Democrats.
The current party chairman is Jyrki Katainen, who was elected as for the post in 2004.
Former party chairman is Ville Itälä, who in the general elections in 2003 obtained the second highest count of individual votes (21.422) of all candidates. After his term in office as party chairman he was a candidate in the European Parliament election. He was also elected as an Member of the European Parliament.
In March 2005, Sauli Niinistö announced his candidature for the Finnish Presidency. He challenged the incumbent President Tarja Halonen. He qualified for the second round runoff (as one of the top two candidates in the first round), held on 29 January 2006, but was defeated by the sitting President Tarja Halonen with 51.8 % against 48.2 %. Niinistö has said he has no plans to take any high-ranking political job like the prime ministership in the future. [YLE]
Prominent party leaders
- Lauri Ingman - Prime Minister of Finland 1918-1919 and 1924-1925, Archbishop of Turku 1930-1934
- Antti Tulenheimo - Prime Minister of Finland 1925
- Pehr Evind Svinhufvud - President of Finland 1931-1937
- Edwin Linkomies - Prime Minister of Finland 1943-1944
- Juho Kusti Paasikivi - President of Finland 1946-1956, Prime Minister of Finland 1944-1946
- Harri Holkeri - Prime Minister of Finland 1987-1991
External links
- [National Coalition Party] - Official site
References
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