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1962 Finnish parliamentary election

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1962 Finnish parliamentary election

← 1958 4–5 February 1962 1966 →

All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland
101 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader V. J. Sukselainen Kusti Kulo Väinö Tanner
Party Agrarian SKDL SDP
Last election 23.06%, 48 seats 23.16%, 50 seats 23.12%, 48 seats
Seats won 53 47 38
Seat change Increase 5 Decrease 3 Decrease 10
Popular vote 528,409 506,829 448,930
Percentage 22.95% 22.02% 19.50%
Swing Decrease 0.11pp Decrease 1.14pp Decrease 3.62pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jussi Saukkonen Harras Kyttä Lars Erik Taxell
Party National Coalition People's RKP
Last election 15.28%, 29 seats 5.90%, 8 seats 6.50%, 13 seats
Seats won 32 13 13
Seat change Increase 3 Increase 5 Steady
Popular vote 346,638 146,005 140,689
Percentage 15.06% 6.34% 6.11%
Swing Decrease 0.22pp Increase 0.44pp Decrease 0.39pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Emil Skog Teuvo Aura
Party TPSL Liberal League ÅS
Last election 1.75%, 3 seats 0.33%, 0 seats 0.28%, 1 seat
Seats won 2 1 1
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 1 Steady
Popular vote 100,396 12,000 7,261
Percentage 4.36% 0.52% 0.32%
Swing Increase 2.61pp Increase 0.19pp Increase 0.04pp

Prime Minister before election

Martti Miettunen
Agrarian

Prime Minister after election

Ahti Karjalainen
Agrarian

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 4 and 5 February 1962.[1]

Background

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V. J. Sukselainen's second minority government had resigned in 1961, followed by Prime Minister Martti Miettunen's Agrarian first government, also a centrist minority government. In the spring of 1961, Olavi Honka, a former Chancellor of Justice (Attorney General), accepted the presidential candidacy of the Social Democratic Party, National Coalition Party, Swedish People's Party, People's Party, Smallholders' Party and the Liberal League. This Honka Alliance's goal was to defeat President Urho Kekkonen in the presidential elections of January and February 1962.

However, their plans were derailed in October 1961 when the Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note to Finland, asking it to participate in negotiations about the two countries' military co-operation. The Soviet government claimed that militarism and neo-Nazism were increasing in West Germany, and that Finland and the Soviet Union would have to negotiate on the basis of the Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance Treaty. During the Note Crisis, in late November Kekkonen dissolved Parliament and called early elections for February 1962. Shortly thereafter, Honka ended his presidential candidacy "for the fatherland's interest." Kekkonen travelled to Novosibirsk in the Soviet Union, where he negotiated briefly with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Again Khrushchev assured Kekkonen that all was well in the Finnish-Soviet relations, despite the efforts of "anti-Soviet" Finns to worsen them.

Campaign

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The parliamentary elections were held in the first week of February 1962, between the Electoral College elections and the second phase of the presidential elections. The parties that still opposed Kekkonen's re-election had trouble campaigning in both the presidential and the parliamentary elections. After the parliamentary elections, Ahti Karjalainen of the Agrarian League formed a centre-right majority government that remained in office until December 1963. It was replaced by another caretaker government, led by Bureau Chief (a senior civil servant) Reino Lehto.[2]

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Agrarian League528,40922.9553+5
Finnish People's Democratic League506,82922.0247–3
Social Democratic Party448,93019.5038–10
National Coalition Party346,63815.0632+3
People's Party146,0056.3413+5
Swedish People's Party140,6896.11130
Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders100,3964.362–1
Smallholders' Party49,7732.160New
Liberal League12,0000.521+1
Centre Party8,6860.380New
Åland Coalition7,2610.3210
Smallholders' Party Opposition6,3290.270New
Others530.000
Total2,301,998100.002000
Valid votes2,301,99899.65
Invalid/blank votes8,0920.35
Total votes2,310,090100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,714,83885.09
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004[3]

By electoral district

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Electoral district Total
seats
Seats won
ML SKDL SDP Kok SK RKP TPSL VL ÅS
Åland 1 1
Central Finland 11 3 3 2 1 1 1
Häme 14 3 3 4 3 1
Helsinki 20 4 4 4 3 3 1 1
Kymi 15 4 2 5 4
Lapland 9 4 3 1 1
North Karelia 10 4 2 2 1 1
North Savo 12 4 4 1 2 1
Oulu 18 9 6 1 1 1
Pirkanmaa 12 1 4 3 3 1
Satakunta 14 4 4 3 3
South Savo 11 5 1 3 2
Uusima 17 2 4 5 2 1 3
Vaasa 20 7 3 2 3 5
Varsinais-Suomi 16 3 4 3 2 2 2
Total 200 53 47 38 32 13 13 2 1 1
Source: Statistics Finland[4]

References

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  1. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Seppo Zetterberg (2003) A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY
  3. ^ 595. Eduskuntavaalit 1927–2003 (Tilastokeskus 2004)
  4. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:28: Eduskuntavaalit vaalit 1962. Statistics Finland. 1962.