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This article is a list of political parties in Finland, which includes Finland's national-level political parties and excludes local and provincial parties (such as the parties of Åland). A party is defined as a political association whose existence is recorded in the Ministry of Justice's party register.[1]
Finland has a multi-party system. Coalition governments which comprise a majority of seats in the Parliament of Finland are the norm. Those parties which are not in government are called the opposition. Due to the lack of an electoral threshold, many parties are usually represented in Parliament. As a result, it is all but impossible for one party to win a majority. Additionally, the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually cannot win enough seats between them to form a governing coalition on their own. Most Finnish governments, particularly since World War II, have thus been grand coalitions comprising parties stretching across the political spectrum.
Parties work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmät), usually voting with party discipline, which is however not absolute.
Parties are composed of local chapters based in municipalities. In municipalities, which are fundamental administrative units of the country, parties hold seats in the municipal councils, but often have to compete for them with local non-party groups.
Finnish law states that a political association which fulfills certain conditions is eligible to become a political party free of charge.[1] Among these conditions are:
- that the primary purpose of the association is to affect governmental affairs,
- that it has received at least 5,000 votes in any parliamentary, municipal, or European Parliament election,
- that the association's rules secure the following of democratic principles in its decision making and activities,
- and that it has a general program based on these rules which expresses the association's principles and goals regarding its actions in governmental affairs.
A registered party may nominate candidates in any national and local elections, and a party that is represented in parliament is entitled to a government subsidy relative to its number of seats. To qualify as a registered party, an association must have bylaws guaranteeing democratic internal organization and must be able to present 5,000 signatures from supporters who are eligible to vote. A party that fails to win a single seat in two consecutive parliamentary elections is stricken from the register but may apply again. (In contrast, a voluntary association has a requirement of 20,000 supporters and is not eligible for party subsidy.)
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