Founded in 1918, the National Coalition Party is one of the "big three" parties that have dominated Finnish national politics for several decades, along with the Social Democratic Party and the Centre Party. The current party chair is Petteri Orpo, elected on 11 June 2016. The party self-statedly bases its politics on "freedom, responsibility and democracy, equal opportunities, education, supportiveness, tolerance and caring"[2] and supports multiculturalism and gay rights. Their foreign stances are pro-NATO and pro-European oriented, the party is also a member of the European People's Party (EPP).[3] The party is described by literature as a liberal,[4] conservative[5] as well as a liberal-conservative[6] party on the centre-right[7] with catch-all characteristics.[8]
The party's vote share has been approximately 20% in parliamentary elections since the 1990s and has only been out of coalition governments for eight years since then. It won 44 out of 200 seats in the parliamentaryelections of 2011, becoming the largest party in the Finnish Parliament (Finnish: Eduskunta; Swedish: Riksdagen) for the first time in its history. On the municipal level, it emerged as the most popular party for the first time in 2008. More recently, the NCP came to be the largest party during the Finnish 2023 general election, with 48 seats, and has been the lead party in the governing Orpo Cabinet since 20 June 2023.
History
1918–1939
Lion of the National CoalitionFinnish election poster from 1933
A national coalition is needed over old party lines that have lost meaning and have too long separated similarly thinking citizens. This coalition's grand task must be to work to strengthen in our nation the forces that maintain society. Lawful societal order must be strictly upheld and there must be no compromise with revolutionary aspirations. But simultaneously, determined constructive reform work must be pursued."[12]
The party sought to accomplish their task by advocating for constitutional monarchy and, failing that, strong governmental powers within a republican framework. On the other hand, their goal was to implement a number of social and economic reforms, such as compulsory education, universal health care, and progressive income and property taxation.[13] The monarchist aims failed and Finland became a parliamentary republic—in which the NCP advocated for strong presidential powers. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the fear of Joseph Stalin's communist Soviet Union influenced Finnish politics. Communists, backed by Soviet leaders, accelerated their activities while the ideological position of the National Coalition Party shifted to strongly conservative. The new ideology was poorly received, particularly by the youth, attracted instead more to irredentist and fascist movements, such as the Academic Karelia Society or Patriotic People's Movement.[9][10][11]
In the 1933 parliamentary election, the party formed an electoral coalition with the Patriotic People's Movement, founded by former supporters of the radical nationalist Lapua Movement—even though P.E. Svinhufvud, the party's first President of Finland, played a key role in halting the Lapua Movement and vanquishing their Mäntsälä rebellion. The result was a major defeat as the NCP lost 24 of its 42 seats in Parliament. The NCP broke ties with the Patriotic People's Movement in 1934 under the newly elected party chair Juho Kusti Paasikivi, but was nevertheless shut out from the Finnish Government until the outbreak of the Winter War in 1939 and only slowly regained support.[10][11][14]
1939–2000
Election poster from 1948. Be free, vote for the Coalition, written in FinnishCoalition election poster from 1953
During the Winter War and the Continuation War in 1939–1944, the party took part in the war-time national unity governments and generally had strong support for its government policies. After the wars, the National Coalition Party sought to portray itself as a defender of democracy against the resurgent Finnish communists. Chair Paasikivi, who had advocated making more concessions to Soviet Union before the Winter War and taken a cautious line regarding cooperation with Germany before the Continuation War, acted first as Prime Minister of Finland (1944–1946) and then as President (1946–1956) of Finland. Paasikivi is remembered as the formulator of Finnish foreign policy after World War II.[15] The conflict between the NCP and the communist Finnish People's Democratic League culminated when President Paasikivi fired the communist Minister of the Interior Yrjö Leino, who had used the State Police to spy on the party's youth wing among other abuses.[11][16][17]
In 1951, the party changed its official name from the original Kansallinen Kokoomuspuolue to the current Kansallinen Kokoomus. The 1950s were also a time of ideological shifts, as the emphasis on individual liberty and free market reforms increased at the expense of social conservatism and maintenance of a strong government. A minor division in 1958 led to the formation of the Christian Democrats party. From 1966 to 1987, the party was in the opposition.[18] By criticizing Finnish communists and President Urho Kekkonen of the Centre Party, the party had lost the President's trust—and thus governments formed by the Centre Party and left-wing parties followed one another. A new guard emerged within the NCP in the 1970s that sought to improve relations with long-serving President Kekkonen. Their work was partially successful in the late 1970s.[19] However, even though the NCP supported Kekkonen for president in 1978 and became the second largest party in the country in the 1979 parliamentary election, a spot in the government continued to elude the NCP until the end of Kekkonen's time in office.[10][11][17]
During the long years in opposition, the party's support grew steadily and in 1987 it attained the best parliamentary election result in its history so far. Harri Holkeri became the party's first prime minister since Paasikivi. During Holkeri's time in office, the Finnish economy suffered a downturn, precipitated by a multitude of factors, and the 1991 parliamentary election resulted in a loss. The party continued in government as a minor partner until 2003.[10][11]
2000–present
Multicolour logo of the party before its rebranding in 2020
After losing six seats in the 2003 parliamentary election, the National Coalition Party spent the next electoral period in opposition. Jyrki Katainen was elected party chair in 2004 and in March 2006, vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP). Under the leadership of Katainen, chair until 2014, liberalism became the main attribute of the party.[20] In the 2007 parliamentary election, the party increased its share to 50 seats in the largest gain of the election. The party held a close second place in Parliament, shy of the Centre Party and its 51 seats. After the election, the party entered into a coalition government together with the Centre Party, the Green League, and the Swedish People's Party. The NCP secured important ministerial portfolios, including finance and foreign affairs. In the 2011 parliamentary election, the party finished first place for the first time in its history with 44 seats, despite losing six seats, and party chair Jyrki Katainen formed his cabinet as a six-party coalition government from parties on the left and on the right after lengthy negotiations.[10][11][21]
Parliamentary election poster from 2019
The National Coalition Party's candidate in the 2006 Finnish presidential election was former minister of finance and former party chair Sauli Niinistö. He qualified for the second round runoff as one of the top two candidates in the first round but was defeated by the incumbent Tarja Halonen with 51.8% of the vote against his 48.2%. The party nominated Sauli Niinistö again for the presidential election of 2012. Niinistö won the election, beating his Green League opponent Pekka Haavisto decisively on the second round with a 62.6% portion of the votes, and thus becoming the third president elected from the party and the first one since 1956. Niinistö's margin of victory was larger than that of any previous directly elected president in Finland. He won a majority in 14 of the country's 15 electoral districts.[10][22] Niinistö is described as a pragmatical fiscal conservative and a pro-European who supports the restraint of bailouts to partner countries. Upon taking office, Niinistö intended to strengthen interaction with the United States and China and maintain good relations with Russia as well as address the European debt crisis.[21] Niinistö was re-elected in 2018 for a second six-year term. He ran as an independent but had the support of the National Coalition Party.[23]
In 2014, Katainen stepped down as party chair and Prime Minister of Finland for a vice-presidential position in the European Commission.[24] Katainen was replaced by Alexander Stubb as chair of the National Coalition Party in the June 2014 leadership election and thus became the prime minister. Katainen's cabinet was likewise succeeded by the Stubb Cabinet on 23 June 2014.[11] Stubb went on to lead the party into the 2015 parliamentary election, in which the National Coalition Party placed second in votes and third in parliamentary seats.[25] After the election, National Coalition joined a right-leaning majority coalition consisting of the three largest parties – the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party.[26] During his term, Stubb faced growing criticism for the NCP's poor poll results, the declining economy as well as compromises in the three-party government. After two years as party chair, Stubb was voted by 361 to 441 to be replaced by Petteri Orpo at the leadership election of June 2016.[27]
After the 2019 election, it became the third-largest party in the Finnish Parliament, behind the Social Democrats and the Finns Party, and became the second-largest opposition party after being excluded from the Rinne Cabinet.
In 2014, the non-profit The Democratic Society described it as "the heir to both liberal and conservative strains of right-of-centre thought" that is becoming increasingly liberal compared to its official stance of conservatism.[3]
Despite the fact that it was previously considered to be critical of the Nordic welfare model, campaigning for strict doctrines of economic liberalism, in the 1970s the party shifted to supporting more social liberal policies, such as increased social security, which was justified by the increase of individual liberty,[30] although, in more recent years, some have accused the party of adopting more critical views of the welfare state and of embracing more fiscally conservative positions,[42] in addition to the abandoning of their socially liberal and green values in order to move votes away from the growing Finns Party towards themselves.[43][44]
Votes for NCP by municipality in the 2011 parliamentary election with urban areas gathering the most support
The magazine Suomen Kuvalehti created a profile of a typical National Coalition Party voter from over 18,000 interviews in 2011: a 36-year-old lawyer or management consultant living with a family in the Capital region who supports economic liberalism and conservative values and enjoys alpine skiing and golf.[46] Unlike other conservative parties in Europe, the party's voters are predominantly urban while rural regions favor the Centre Party.[3] In 2005, the NCP had the highest proportion of female members out of the major parties.[47] Membership in the party was momentarily on the rise in 2008, but had declined from 41,000 to 34,000 by 2016.[48] In contrast, the party had 81,000 members in 1970.[49] According to 2008 polling data, the National Coalition Party was the most positively viewed party by Finns[50] and was the most favored party among young generation in the 2008 and 2014 polls.[51][52]
Organisation
The main structure of the National Coalition Party comprises municipal and local chapters organized into districts and as well as the women's, student and youth wings. The party conference (Finnish: puoluekokous), the main decision-making body convening every two years with representatives from the suborganisations as its members, elects the party chair and three deputy chairs as well as the 61-member party council (Finnish: puoluevaltuusto).[53]
The party chair and the deputy chairs lead the party board (Finnish: puoluehallitus), which is in charge of the daily management and is composed of a representative from each district and from each of the three wings. The party council also elects the party secretary to head the main office, located in Helsinki, and to coordinate the National Coalition Party's activities according to the board's decisions. Additionally, the NCP has separate groups for coordinating ministers, members of the Finnish Parliament, and members of the European Parliament.[53]
Two foundations, Kansallissäätiö and Porvarillisen Työn Arkiston Säätiö, assist the party with a source of funding and as an archive, respectively.[54][55] Reportedly, donations to Kansallissäätiö are kept secret, but according to the treasurer, donations are a limited asset compared to the foundation's 5 million euro investment capital. In 2008, the foundation supported NCP with €400,000.[56] The NCP owns two companies, Kansalliskustannus Oy and Suomen Kansallismedia Oy, to publish the party newspapers Nykypäivä and Verkkouutiset as well as to handle media communications.[57] Additionally, some thematic organizations report themselves as close to the party, such as the Swedish-language group Borgerlig samling i Finland[58] and the queer network Kansallinen sateenkaariryhmä – Kasary.[59]
Election results are based on respective files of the Official Statistics of Finland (Finnish: Suomen virallinen tilasto) published by the national Statistics Finland institution.
^ abThe 1988 presidential election was partially indirect. With no candidate achieving a majority of the popular vote, the president was elected by the electoral college which the voters voted for alongside the direct vote.
^ abMads Dagnis Jensen (2015). "The Nordic countries and the European Parliament". In Caroline Howard Grøn; Peter Nedergaard; Anders Wivel (eds.). The Nordic Countries and the European Union: Still the Other European Community?. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN978-1-317-53661-1. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
^ abLeino-Kaukiainen, Pirkko (1994). Suomalaiskansallinen Kokoomus osa 1: Suomalaisen puolueen ja Kansallisen kokoomuspuolueen historia vuoteen 1929. Helsinki: Suomen kansalliskirja.
^ abcdefg"Kokoomuksen historia" [History of the National Coalition Party]. National Coalition Party (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
^ abcdefghMickelsson, Rauli (2015). Suomen puolueet: Vapauden ajasta maailmantuskaan [Parties of Finland: From the age of liberty to world-weariness] (in Finnish). Vastapaino. ISBN978-951-768-531-3.
^"Kansalaisille" [For the Citizens]. Foundational Meeting of the National Coalition Party (in Finnish). 1918.
^Kansallisen Kokoomuspuolueen ohjelma [Programme of the National Coalition Party] (in Finnish). National Coalition Party. 2 February 1919.
^"Kokoomus: "Avioliitto sukupuolineutraaliksi"" [National Coalition Party: Marriage to be gender neutral]. Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). 13 June 2010. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
^Bucken-Knapp, Gregg; Hinnfors, Jonas; Spehar, Andrea; Levin, Pia (1 November 2014). "No nordic model: Understanding differences in the labour migration policy preferences of mainstream Finnish and Swedish political parties". Comparative European Politics. 12 (6): 584–602. doi:10.1057/cep.2014.22. ISSN1472-4790. S2CID145642640.
^ ab"Kansallinen Kokoomus r.p:n säännöt" [Rules of the National Coalition Party] (PDF). National Coalition Party (in Finnish). 18 September 2014. Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
^Poukka, Pentti (1996). Talo Pasilassa – Kansallissäätiö 1958–1994. Karisto.
^Poukka, Pentti (1984). Puolue ja säätiö: Kansallisen Kokoomuspuolueen Säätiö 1924–1984. Säätiö. ISBN978-951-99568-4-8.
^"Kokoomus-säätiö pitää lahjoittajat salassa" [National Coalition Party foundation keeps its donors secret]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 21 August 2009. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
^"Puolueen yhtiöt" [Party companies]. National Coalition Party (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
^"Om oss". Borgerlig Samling i Finland (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
^"Tästä on kyse". Kansallinen Sateenkaariryhmä (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
_logo.svg){kind=logo}
c. 27,000[1]
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
