Since independence Finnish governments have on average been rather short-lived – in nearly 100 years the country has seen some 74 governments in office. In the 1970s Finland had 11 different administrations and in the 1950s voters saw 14 governments come and go.
Following the departure of Finland’s longest-serving President Urho Kekkonen at the beginning of the 1980s, a kind of norm has taken root, in which governments have served out their full terms in office. Prime Ministers have resigned and individual parties have walked out of government, but an entire government has not faced the prospect of entering new coalition formation talks without an election.
Change of PM generally brings no change to government coalition
A change at the very top in the office of the prime minister has usually been accompanied by the formal resignation of the entire government. This last occurred in 2014, when then-PM Jyrki Katainen headed off to greener pastures in the European Commission and was succeeded by new National Coalition Party chair Alexander Stubb. However the new government continued with the same composition and main policies of its predecessor.
The situation was somewhat more dramatic back in 2003, when the Centre Party premier Anneli Jäätteenmäki was forced to step down just two months in the job after what became known as the Iraq scandal. At the time it emerged that Jäätteenmäki had used confidential information leaked from the Foreign Ministry about Finland’s Iraq policy.
The ex-PM had been accused of using the classified information against the previous incumbent, Paavo Lipponen, in election debates. Although she denied any wrongdoing, Jäätteenmäki did not enjoy the Parliament’s confidence and was forced to resign. Matti Vanhanen then stepped into the breach to lead the Centre and take over the premiership, at the head of a cabinet that looked much like Jäätteenmäki’s and pursued the more or less the same agenda.
Later in 2010, Matti Vanhanen’s second term in office came to an end when he was unseated as Centre Party chair by then- Public Administration and Local Government Minister, Mari Kiviniemi. At the time Vanhanen had also been dogged by a Centre party funding scandal and a personal imbroglio over a salacious novel published by a former girlfriend. Mari Kiviniemi carried forward the previous cabinet and government programme virtually unchanged.
Departure of minor parties has little impact on govt
The Greens have walked out of government over nuclear power plant permits granted by their government partners – in 2002 and most recently in 2014. This made no dent in either government’s parliamentary majority, nor did it force either administration out of office.
The Finns Party’s predecessor, the Finnish Rural Party (Suomen Maaseudun Puolue), the ancestor of the Christian Democrats the Finnish Christian League (Kristillinen liitto) and the Left Alliance have also left governments without toppling the administrations of which they were a part.
Kalevi Sorsa’s fourth administration (1983 – 1987), Harri Kolkeri’s government founded primarily on the National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats (1987 – 1991), Esko Aho’s conservative government (1991 -1995) and Paavo Lipponen’s first and second administrations (1995 – 1999 and 1999 – 2003) all completed their full terms in office.
SKDL leaves government in 1982
The situation that most closely resembles the current impasse occurred in 1982. At the time the Finnish National Democratic League SKDL (or communists) voted against the government coalition of which they were a part over a dispute involving defence funding. Government ranks had previously cracked over the question of currency devaluation.
Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa (SDP) reacted by forcing SKDL ministers out of government at the risk of ending up with a parliamentary minority. However the SKDL was replaced by a liberal national party that helped provide the government with a slim majority and allowed it to limp towards the next general election three months later.
Kekkonen disbands government
As late as the 1970s President Urho Kekkonen had a central role in making and breaking governments. The last administration that collapsed, paving the way for a completely new government composition, was Martti Miettunen’s minority government, which broke up in May 1977.
A previous administration also led by Miettunen splintered over political differences, but strongman Kekkonen initially refused to accept the government’s resignation.
The last time a snap election took place in Finland was in 1975 when Kekkonen dissolved Parliament following an announcement by the Centre Party that it would not abide by proposed regulations relating to rural development.
