 | |
| Abbreviation | SDP Sd. |
| Parliamentary group leader | Tytti Tuppurainen |
| Founded | 20 July 1899; 126 years ago (1899-07-20) |
| Headquarters | Siltasaarenkatu 18–20C, 00530Helsinki |
| Newspaper | Demokraatti |
| Student wing | Social Democratic Students |
| Youth wing | Social Democratic Youth |
| Membership(2021) |  29,450[1] |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats[2] |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance[3] Socialist International[4] |
| Nordic affiliation | SAMAK The Social Democratic Group |
| Colours | Red |
| Anthem | Työväen marssi [fi] |
| Eduskunta | 43 / 200 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 15 |
| Municipalities | 1,699 / 8,586 |
| County seats | 321 / 1,379 |
| Website | |
| sdp.fi | |
TheSocial Democratic Party of Finland (Finnish:Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolueFinnish pronunciation:[ˈsuo̯menˈsosiɑ(ː)liˌdemokrɑːtːinenˈpuo̯lue],SDP, nicknamed:demarit in Finnish;Swedish:Finlands socialdemokratiska parti,SD) is asocial democratic[5][6]political party in Finland. It is the third-largest party in theParliament of Finland with a total of 42 seats.
Founded in 1899 as theWorkers' Party of Finland (Finnish:Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish:Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with theCentral Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of theParty of European Socialists,Progressive Alliance andSocialist International.
Following the resignation ofAntti Rinne in December 2019,Sanna Marin became the country's 46thprime minister. The SDP formed a newcoalition government on the basis of its predecessor, theRinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with theCentre Party,Green League,Left Alliance andSwedish People's Party. Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in theMarin Cabinet.[7] In September 2023,Antti Lindtman was elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the2023 Finnish parliamentary election.[8]
The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July inTurku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to thetenant farmer question, the managing of employment, improvement ofworkers' rights,freedom of speech and an8-hour work day.[9]
In its 1903 second party conference inForssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but theGrand Duchy of Finland's thengovernor-generalNikolay Bobrikov had outlawed the SDP from using "social democratic" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radicalForssa Programme was agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, aminimum wage,universal compulsory education andprohibition.[10]
TheForssa Programme is based on theErfurt Programme approved by theSocial Democratic Party of Germany in 1891 and theSocial Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed torepresentative democracy [except for two times, and then just on advisory referendums: once about prohibition in 1931 and another on the1994 Finnish European Union membership referendum.])[11] The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition ofreligious education in all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned.[12]
The SDP was closely associated with theFinnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party.[13] The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement untiluniversal suffrage was introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured amajority in the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the1917 Finnish parliamentary election after theRussian Provisional Government had rejected itsValtalaki 1917 proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into theFinnish Civil War in 1918.[citation needed]
SDP members declared Finland asocialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of theWhite Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge inSoviet Russia.[citation needed] In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of itspolitical legitimacy and respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised byVäinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded theCommunist Party of Finland (SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP.
It became the life's work ofVäinö Tanner to re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from itsNordic sister parties, namely theDanish Social Democrats, theNorwegian Labour Party and theSwedish Social Democratic Party. PresidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation untilKyösti Kallio was elected president in 1937. DuringWorld War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of theSoviet Union in theWinter War of 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of theLabour and Socialist International from 1923 to 1940.[14]
During the first few months of theContinuation War (1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and theAgrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and otherbourgeois political parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties.
Because of the SDP'santi-communism, the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agency supported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-warrationing served to inflate prices. In the1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidateKarl-August Fagerholm lost by only one electoral vote toUrho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as prime minister in theFagerholm II Cabinet (1956–1957) and theFagerholm III Cabinet (1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election ofVäinö Tanner as party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed theSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders (TPSL) around the former SDP chairmanEmil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with thecentrist-agrarian Centre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with theliberal-conservativeNational Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and theNational Coalition Party (NCP).
The1995 Finnish parliamentary election saw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results sinceWorld War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leaderPaavo Lipponen headed two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted apro-European stance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became theSpeaker of Parliament and the Centre Party leaderAnneli Jäätteenmäki became the newPrime Minister, leading acoalition cabinet that included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to theIraq leak and was replaced byMatti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded theVanhanen I Cabinet.
.jpg)
In the2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed acoalition cabinet consisting of theGreen League, the NCP and theSwedish People's Party of Finland (SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leaderEero Heinäluoma did not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced byJutta Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the2008 Finnish municipal elections and the2009 European Parliament election. In the2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than theFinns Party which came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, theKatainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet'sMinister of Finance, with NCP chairmanJyrki Katainen serving as prime minister.
In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challengerAntti Rinne in a 257 to 243 vote.[15] Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne.[16] In the2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of theSipilä Cabinet on matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model.[17] On 22 June 2016,Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35.[18]
In the2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament.[19] Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties,Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with theCentre Party, theGreen League, theLeft Alliance and theSwedish People's Party.[20] The negotiations were ultimately successful and theRinne Cabinet was formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019.[21] On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland.[22] He was followed in the position bySanna Marin, who was appointed as prime minister on 10 December 2019.[23]
The SDP is a centre-leftsocial-democratic party.[24][25][26]
In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are:sustainable development,all-encompassing equality,peace,solidarity,freedom,co-operation,a clean and pristine environment together withdemocratic socialism. The SDP also embraceshumanism's values as well as theNordic model's accomplishments.[27]
In the 1900s, the party known as theFinnish Workers' Party was founded on the basis ofsocial issues, class andsocialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in theSenate of Finland in 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of thelandless population and therural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded theSSTP. As a result of thecivil war and theOctober Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided.[28]
Up until theRussian invasion of Ukraine,[29] the party opposed Finland joiningNATO and instead preferred for it to remain in thePartnership for Peace.[30]
The SDP is in favour ofqueer rights, the construction ofnuclear power plants, the conservation ofSwedish as one of Finland's twoofficial languages, theseparation of church and state,[31] and to the increase of funding given by the state topublic schools and universities.[32] The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030.[33] The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland,[34][35] but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentaryelection programme its self-declared goal was the increase of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and lowbirth rate.[36] In 2023, the SDP, along with theNCP, both criticised theFinns Party for their lack of willingness to the easing ofwork permit requirements for foreigners coming from outside the European Union.[37]
The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the2011 Finnish parliamentary election and in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme.[38][39][40] The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.[41]
Some of the SDP's politicians have received criticism about their defense of Russia for years by the media and academics, for example, SDP politiciansEero Heinäluoma,Paavo Lipponen,Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm andTarja Halonen have received critique on their positions towards Russia.
In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: "...democracy,human rights and good governance."[42] Nine years later, in 2014 afterRussia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation.[43]
SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through hisconsulting firm's services offered toGazprom, he was sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros for assisting in theSouth Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world.[44]
In February 2022, politicianErkki Tuomioja published a work with the title "Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically.[45]
Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social-democraticMEPEero Heinäluoma andMauri Pekkarinen from theCentre Party both said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for a Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia.[46]
Paavo Lipponen has lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia'sNord Stream project since 2008.[47] In that yearRussia went to war with Georgia.[48] In a report published by theEuropean Parliament's specialcommittee in 2022, the Social Democratic Party prime minister Lipponen and Centre Party prime ministerEsko Aho were stated to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their special interests.[49] Some current SDP politicians have therefore appeased Russia in the past.
In September 2023, whenAntti Lindtman got electedchair of the SDP a scandal broke out due to an old picture of him posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing apointed hat in the style of achristmas elf, covered by abalaclava and with anairsoft gun in hand while in hisadolescent years, while two others were doing anazi salute in the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a Nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of "Team Paha, English: Team Bad" in aPikkujoulu party while they were messing around and posted online. Lindtman additionally firmly denied the allegation of being anational socialist.[50][51]
Theparty secretary,Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023conference inJyväskylä was criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he haddriven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-daysuspended sentence and an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady'ssummer cottage as a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in abonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism andanimal cruelty as a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds.[52][53][54][55]
The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years.[56] Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce.
.svg)
.jpg)
| Leader | Time |
|---|---|
| Nils Robert af Ursin | 1899–1900 |
| J. A. Salminen [fi] | 1900 |
| K. F. Hellstén [fi] | 1900–1903 |
| Taavi Tainio | 1903–1905 |
| Emil Perttilä | 1905–1906 |
| Edvard Valpas-Hänninen | 1906–1909 |
| Matti Paasivuori | 1909–1911, 1913–1917, 1926–1930 |
| Otto Wille Kuusinen | 1911–1913 |
| Kullervo Manner | 1917–1918 |
| Väinö Tanner | 1918–1926, 1957–1963 |
| Kaarlo Harvala | 1930–1942 |
| Väinö Salovaara | 1942–1944 |
| Onni Hiltunen | 1944–1946 |
| Emil Skog | 1946–1957 |
| Rafael Paasio | 1963–1975 |
| Kalevi Sorsa | 1975–1987 |
| Pertti Paasio | 1987–1991 |
| Ulf Sundqvist | 1991–1993 |
| Paavo Lipponen | 1993–2005 |
| Eero Heinäluoma | 2005–2008 |
| Jutta Urpilainen | 2008–2014 |
| Antti Rinne | 2014–2020 |
| Sanna Marin | 2020–2023 |
| Antti Lindtman | from 2023 |
| Oskari Tokoi | Chairperson of theSenate in 1917. |
| Yrjö Sirola | Founder of theCommunist Party of Finland. |
| Väinö Tanner | Prime Minister (1926–1927). Foreign Minister (1939–1940). |
| Karl-August Fagerholm | Prime Minister (1948–1950, 1956–1957 and 1958–1959). Speaker of Parliament (1945–1948, 1950–1956, 1957–1958, 1958–1962 and 1965–1966). |
| Rafael Paasio | Prime Minister (1966–1968 and 1972). |
| Kalevi Sorsa | Prime Minister (1972–1975, 1977–1979 and 1982–1987). |
| Mauno Koivisto | Prime Minister (1968–1970 and 1979–1982). President (1982–1994). |
| Pentti Väänänen | Secretary General of theSocialist International (1983–1989). |
| Martti Ahtisaari | President (1994–2000). Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2008). |
| Erkki Tuomioja | Foreign Minister (2000–2007 and 2011–2015). |
| Paavo Lipponen | Prime Minister (1995–2003). Speaker of the Parliament (2003–2007). |
| Tarja Halonen | Foreign Minister (1995–2000). President (2000–2012). |
| Eero Heinäluoma | Speaker of the Parliament (2011–2015). |
| Jutta Urpilainen | Finance Minister andDeputy Prime Minister (2011–2014). |
| Antti Rinne | Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister (2014–2015). Prime Minister (2019). |
| Sanna Marin | Prime Minister (2019–2023). Minister of Transport and Communications (2019). |
| Parliament of Finland | |||||||||
| Election | Popular vote | Number of seats | Status | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ± pp | Rank | Seats | +/– | Rank | |||
| 1907 | 329,946 | 37.03 |  37.03 | 1st | 80 / 200 | 80 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1908 | 310,826 | 38.40 | 1.37 |  1st | 83 / 200 | 3 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1909 | 337,685 | 39.89 | 1.49 | 1st | 84 / 200 | 1 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1910 | 316,951 | 40.04 | 0.15 | 1st | 86 / 200 | 2 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1911 | 321,201 | 40.03 | 0.01 | 1st | 86 / 200 | 0 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1913 | 312,214 | 43.11 | 3.08 | 1st | 90 / 200 | 4 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1916 | 376,030 | 47.29 | 4.18 | 1st | 103 / 200 | 13 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1917 | 444,670 | 44.79 | 2.50 | 1st | 92 / 200 | 11 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1919 | 365,046 | 37.98 | 7.51 | 1st | 80 / 200 | 12 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1922 | 216,861 | 25.06 | 12.22 | 1st | 53 / 200 | 27 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1924 | 255,068 | 29.02 | 3.96 | 1st | 60 / 200 | 7 | 1st | Opposition(1924–1926) | |
| Coalition(1926–1927) | |||||||||
| 1927 | 257,572 | 28.30 | 0.72 | 1st | 60 / 200 | 0 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1929 | 260,254 | 27.36 | 0.94 | 1st | 59 / 200 | 1 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1930 | 386,026 | 34.16 | 6.80 | 1st | 66 / 200 | 7 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1933 | 413,551 | 37.33 | 3.17 | 1st | 78 / 200 | 12 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1936 | 452,751 | 38.59 | 1.26 | 1st | 83 / 200 | 5 | 1st | Opposition(1936–1937) | |
| Coalition(1937–1939) | |||||||||
| 1939 | 515,980 | 39.77 | 1.18 | 1st | 85 / 200 | 2 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1945 | 425,948 | 25.08 | 14.69 | 1st | 50 / 200 | 35 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1948 | 494,719 | 26.32 | 1.24 | 1st | 54 / 200 | 4 | 2nd | Coalition(1948–1950) | |
| Opposition(1950–1951) | |||||||||
| Coalition(1951) | |||||||||
| 1951 | 480,754 | 26.52 | 0.20 | 1st | 53 / 200 | 1 | 1st | Coalition(1951–1953) | |
| Opposition(1953–1954) | |||||||||
| Coalition(1954) | |||||||||
| 1954 | 527,094 | 26.25 | 0.27 | 1st | 54 / 200 | 1 | 1st | Coalition(1954–1957) | |
| Opposition(1957–1958) | |||||||||
| 1958 | 449,536 | 23.12 | 3.13 | 2nd | 48 / 200 | 6 | 2nd | Coalition(1958–1959) | |
| Opposition(1959–1962) | |||||||||
| 1962 | 448,930 | 19.50 | 3.62 | 3rd | 38 / 200 | 10 | 3rd | Opposition | |
| 1966 | 645,339 | 27.23 | 7.73 | 1st | 55 / 200 | 17 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1970 | 594,185 | 23.43 | 3.80 | 1st | 52 / 200 | 3 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1972 | 664,724 | 25.78 | 2.35 | 1st | 55 / 200 | 3 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1975 | 683,590 | 24.86 | 0.92 | 1st | 54 / 200 | 1 | 1st | Coalition(1975–1976) | |
| Opposition(1976–1977) | |||||||||
| Coalition(1977–1979) | |||||||||
| 1979 | 691,512 | 23.89 | 0.97 | 1st | 52 / 200 | 2 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1983 | 795,953 | 26.71 | 2.82 | 1st | 57 / 200 | 5 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1987 | 695,331 | 24.14 | 2.57 | 1st | 56 / 200 | 1 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1991 | 603,080 | 22.12 | 2.02 | 2nd | 48 / 200 | 8 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1995 | 785,637 | 28.25 | 6.13 | 1st | 63 / 200 | 15 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 1999 | 612,963 | 22.86 | 5.39 | 1st | 51 / 200 | 12 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 2003 | 683,223 | 24.47 | 1.61 | 2nd | 53 / 200 | 2 | 2nd | Coalition | |
| 2007 | 594,194 | 21.44 | 3.03 | 3rd | 45 / 200 | 8 | 3rd | Opposition | |
| 2011 | 561,558 | 19.10 | 2.34 | 2nd | 42 / 200 | 3 | 2nd | Coalition | |
| 2015 | 490,102 | 16.51 | 2.59 | 4th | 34 / 200 | 8 | 4th | Opposition | |
| 2019 | 546,471 | 17.73 | 1.22 | 1st | 40 / 200 | 6 | 1st | Coalition | |
| 2023 | 617,552 | 19.95 | 2.22 | 3rd | 43 / 200 | 3 | 3rd | Opposition | |
| Municipal Councils | |||
| Year | Councillors | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 2,100 | 265,689 | |
| 1950 | 377,294 | 25.05% | |
| 1953 | 449,251 | 25.53% | |
| 1956 | 424,977 | 25.42% | |
| 1960 | 2,261 | 414,175 | 21.10% |
| 1964 | 2,543 | 530,878 | 24.75% |
| 1968 | 2,351 | 540,450 | 23.86% |
| 1972 | 2,533 | 676,387 | 27.05% |
| 1976 | 2,735 | 665,632 | 24.82% |
| 1980 | 2,820 | 699,280 | 25.50% |
| 1984 | 2,830 | 666,218 | 24.70% |
| 1988 | 2,866 | 663,692 | 25.23% |
| 1992 | 3,130 | 721,310 | 27.08% |
| 1996 | 2,742 | 583,623 | 24.55% |
| 2000 | 2,559 | 511,370 | 22.99% |
| 2004 | 2,585 | 575,822 | 24.11% |
| 2008 | 2,066 | 541,187 | 21.23% |
| 2012 | 1,729 | 487,924 | 19.57% |
| 2017 | 1,697 | 498,252 | 19.38% |
| 2021 | 1,451 | 433,811 | 17.7% |
| 2025 | 1,699 | 557,768 | 23.1% |
| Wellbeing services counties of Finland | |||
| Year | Councillors | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 275 | 359,014 | 19.3% |
| 2025 | 321 | 444,404 | 22.5% |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 482,577 | 21.45 (#2) | 4 / 16 | New | PES |
| 1999 | 221,836 | 17.86 (#3) | 3 / 16 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 350,525 | 21.16 (#3) | 3 / 14 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 292,051 | 17.54 (#3) | 2 / 13 | 1 | S&D |
| 2014 | 212,211 | 12.31 (#4) | 2 / 13 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 267,342 | 14.62 (#3) | 2 / 13 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 272,034 | 14.87 (#3) | 2 / 15 | 0 |
| Electoral college | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Candidate | Popular vote | First ballot | Second ballot | Third ballot | Results | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | |||||
| 1919 | Väinö Tanner | 1 / 300 | 0.5 | 4th | Lost | ||||||||||||
| 1925 | Väinö Tanner | 165,091 | 26.55 | 79 / 300 | 1st | 78 / 300 | 26.0 | 1st | 2 / 300 | 0.7 | 5th | Lost | |||||
| 1931 | Väinö Tanner | 252,550 | 30.2 | 90 / 300 | 1st | 90 / 300 | 30.0 | 1st | 0 / 300 | 0.0 | 4th | Lost | |||||
| 1937 | Väinö Tanner | 341,408 | 30.68 | 95 / 300 | 1st | Lost | |||||||||||
| 1940 | Johan Helo | 4 / 300 | 1.30 | 2nd | Lost | ||||||||||||
| 1943 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1946 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1950 | 343,828 | 21.80 | 64 / 300 | 2nd | |||||||||||||
| 1956 | Karl-August Fagerholm | 442,408 | 23.33 | 72 / 300 | 2nd | 72 / 300 | 24.0 | 2nd | 114 / 300 | 38.0 | 1st | 149 / 300 | 49.7 | 2nd | Lost | ||
| 1962 | Rafael Paasio | 289,366 | 13.08 | 36 / 300 | 3rd | 37 / 300 | 12.3 | 3rd | Lost | ||||||||
| 1968 | Urho Kekkonen | 315,068 | 15.46 | 55 / 300 | 4th | 201 / 300 | 67.0 | 1st | Won | ||||||||
| 1978 | Urho Kekkonen | 569,154 | 23.25 | 74 / 300 | 1st | 259 / 300 | 86.3 | 1st | Won | ||||||||
| 1982 | Mauno Koivisto | 1,370,314 | 43.10 | 144 / 300 | 1st | 145 / 300 | 48.3 | 1st | 167 / 300 | 55.7 | 1st | Won | |||||
| 1988[nb 2] | Mauno Koivisto | 1,513,234 | 48.90 | 128 / 301 | 1st | 144 / 301 | 48.0 | 1st | 189 / 301 | 63.0 | 1st | Won | |||||
| Year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ± pp | Rank | Votes | % | ± pp | Rank | |||
| 1994 | Martti Ahtisaari | 828,038 | 25.91 | 22.99 | 1st | 1,723,485 | 53.85 | 5.85 | 1st | Won |
| 2000 | Tarja Halonen | 1,224,431 | 40.03 | 14.12 | 1st | 1,644,532 | 51.63 | 2.22 | 1st | Won |
| 2006 | Tarja Halonen | 1,397,030 | 46.31 | 6.28 | 1st | 1,630,980 | 51.79 | 0.16 | 1st | Won |
| 2012 | Paavo Lipponen | 205,020 | 6.70 | 39.61 | 5th | Lost | ||||
| 2018 | Tuula Haatainen | 97,294 | 3.25 | 3.45 | 6th | Lost | ||||
| 2024 | Jutta Urpilainen | 140,802 | 4.34 | 1.09 | 6th | Lost | ||||
European Parliament group:Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats | |||||||||||||||
| Parties |
| ||||||||||||||
| Presidents | |||||||||||||||
| Leaders in the European Parliament | |||||||||||||||
| European Commissioners (2024–2029) |
| ||||||||||||||
| Heads of government |
| ||||||||||||||
| Heads of state |
| ||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
