1936 Finnish parliamentary election

1936 Finnish parliamentary election

1–2 July 1936
All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Kaarlo Harvala Pekka Heikkinen Ernst von Born Party SDP Agrarian RKP Last election 37.33%, 78 seats 22.54%, 53 seats 10.42%, 21 seats Seats won 83 53 21 Seat change 5 Popular vote 452,751 262,917 131,440 Percentage 38.59% 22.41% 11.20% Swing 1.26pp 0.13pp 0.78pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Juho Kusti Paasikivi Vilho Annala Aimo Cajander Party National Coalition IKL National Progressive Last election 16.93%, 32 seats Alliance with National Coalition 7.41%, 11 seats Seats won 20 14 7 Seat change 12 – 4 Popular vote 121,619 97,891 73,654 Percentage 10.36% 8.34% 6.28% Swing 6.57pp – 1.13pp   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Small Farmers' People's Last election 3.39%, 3 seats 0.85%, 2 seats Seats won 1 1 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 23,159 7,449 Percentage 1.97% 0.63 Swing 1.42pp 0.22pp
Prime Minister before election Toivo Mikael Kivimäki National Progressive Prime Minister after election Toivo Mikael Kivimäki National Progressive

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1936. Following the election Prime Minister Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the National Progressive Party was defeated in a confidence vote in September 1936 and resigned in October. Kyösti Kallio of the Agrarian League formed a centrist minority government after Pehr Evind Svinhufvud (National Coalition Party) refused to allow the Social Democrats to join the government. After Svinhufvud's defeat in the February 1937 presidential election, Kallio took office as the new President in March 1937, and he allowed the Social Democrats, Agrarians and Progressives to form the first centre-left or "red soil" ("red" for the Social Democrats and "soil" for the Agrarians) Finnish government. Aimo Cajander (Progressive) became Prime Minister, although the real strong men of the government were Finance Minister Väinö Tanner (Social Democrat) and Defence Minister Juho Niukkanen (Agrarian).

Background

Finland had clearly recovered from the Great Depression since 1933, and unemployment had been almost eliminated. Prime Minister Kivimäki wanted to continue in office and to broaden his narrow right-wing minority government. The new Finnish economic prosperity, and the growing contacts between leading Agrarians and Social Democrats, made alternatives emerge for the Kivimäki government. For the first time in the history of independent Finland, an Agrarian-Social Democratic government began to be seriously discussed and planned. Despite its noisy and vigorous activity, the far-right Patriotic People's Movement remained small. Under the leadership of Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the National Coalitioners moved towards the political centre, and rejected calls for a new electoral alliance with the Patriotic People's Movement. The election results showed that the Finnish political democracy and its two leading moderate parties, the Social Democrats and Agrarians, had been strengthened. The Depression-based fringe parties, the Small Farmers' Party of Finland and the People's Party, lost most of their seats, while the Patriotic People's Movement remained at fourteen deputies, and the moderate right (National Coalitioners) gained two seats. The divided Progressives (Prime Minister Kivimäki led their right wing, and Professor Cajander led their left wing) lost four seats.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	452,751	38.59	83	+5
	Agrarian League	262,917	22.41	53	0
	Swedish People's Party	131,440	11.20	21	0
	National Coalition Party	121,619	10.36	20	+2
	Patriotic People's Movement	97,891	8.34	14	0
	National Progressive Party	73,654	6.28	7	–4
	Small Farmers' Party	23,159	1.97	1	–2
	People's Party	7,449	0.63	1	–1
	Others	2,502	0.21	0	–
Total		1,173,382	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		1,173,382	99.57
Invalid/blank votes		5,030	0.43
Total votes		1,178,412	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,872,908	62.92
Source: Tilastokeskus 2004 Suomen virallinen tilasto