The
Centre Party (in
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
:
Suomen Keskusta,
Kesk., in
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
:
Centern i Finland,
C) is a
centristThe Nordic Agrarian parties, or Nordic Centre parties, is a class of post-agrarian political parties on the Nordic countries. They remain hard to classify by any conventional political ideology. They position themselves in the centre of the political spectrum...
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
. It is one of the three largest political parties in the country, along with the
Social DemocratsThe Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the most influential political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. It has been in the Cabinet for long periods of time, the last time in 1995–2007, and has set many fundamental policies of the Finnish...
(SDP) and the
National Coalition PartyThe National Coalition Party is a liberal conservative political party in Finland founded in 1918....
. Currently the Centre Party has the most seats, 51 out of 200, in the Finnish Parliament (2007) and its chairman
Matti VanhanenMatti Taneli Vanhanen is the current Prime Minister of Finland, as well as Chairman of the Keskusta . In the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council...
is
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister is the Head of Government of Finland. The Prime Minister is currently married to the president, and is appointed by the President, who is the Head of State...
.
Its political influence is greatest in small and rural municipalities, where it often holds a majority of the seats in the municipal councils. Decentralization is the policy that is most characteristic of the Centre Party.
Stance
The party is a member of the
Liberal InternationalLiberal International is a political international for liberal parties. Its headquarters are located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the strengthening of...
and the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform PartyThe European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party is the European liberal party, mainly active in the European Union, composed of 55 national parties from across Europe. Having developed from a loose confederation of national political parties in the 1970s, the ELDR is now a recognised European...
and subscribes to the liberal manifestos of these organisations. Its members in the
European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union , it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
are members of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for EuropeThe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is a transnational alliance between two European political parties: the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and the European Democratic Party...
.
Despite belonging to the Liberal International, the Centre Party does not play quite the same role in Finnish politics as do Liberal parties in other countries because it evolved from an Agrarian Party. In Finland, there is no large party that supports liberalism
per se. Instead, liberalism is found in most major parties including the Centre Party, which supports decentralization, free will, free and fair trade, and small enterprise. The Centre Party characteristically supports decentralization, particularly populating the country evenly and subsidizing agriculture.
One of the major differences between the Finnish Centre and other parties has been its large number of members; hundreds of thousands of Finnish people are members of the party. In recent years, the party has gained many immigrant members as well.
Throughout the period of Finland's independence the Centre Party has been the party most often represented in the government. The country's longest-serving president,
Urho KekkonenUrho Kaleva Kekkonen was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland and later as President of Finland . Kekkonen continued the "active neutrality" policy of President Juho Kusti Paasikivi, which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen Line...
, was from the party.
Today, only a small portion (about 5%) of the votes given to the party come from farmers and the Centre Party draws support from a wide range of professions. However, even today rural Finland and small towns form the strongest base of support for the party, although it has worked toward making a breakthrough in the major southern cities as well.
History
The party was founded in 1906 as a movement of citizens in the Finnish countryside. Before Finnish independence, political power in Finland was centralized in the capital and to the
estates of the realmThe Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners recognized in the Middle Ages and later, in some parts of Europe...
. The centralization gave space for a new political movement. In 1906 were founded two agrarian movements which in 1908 merged into one political party: the
Agrarian League or
Maalaisliitto. An older, related movement was the temperance movement, which had overlapping membership and which gave future Agrarian League activists experience in working in an organization.
From the very beginning of its presence the party has supported the idea of
decentralization__FORCETOC__Decentralization or Decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizen. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
. At the dawn of Finnish independence the party supported
republicanismRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
as opposed to a
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
backed by
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
social forces.
Soon the ideas of humanity, education, the spirit of the land, peasant-like freedom,
decentralization__FORCETOC__Decentralization or Decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizen. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
, "the issue of poor people", progressivism, and later the "green wave" became the main political phrases describing the ideology of the party.
Santeri AlkioSanteri Alkio was a Finnish politician, author and journalist. He is also considered to be the ideological father of Finnish Centre Party.-History:...
was the most important ideological father of the party. In the 1930s centre forces led the fight against the threatening extreme right-wing movement.
In 1965 the party changed its name to "Centre Party" or
Keskustapuolue and in 1988 it took its current name
Suomen Keskusta. Today the importance of humanity and tolerance, social safety and freedom of choice, regional equality, entrepreneurship, ecologically sustainable initiatives, and a decentralised, democratic decision-making process are important values for the Centre Party.
The current chairman, Matti Vanhanen, succeeded as prime minister
Anneli JäätteenmäkiAnneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki, Master of Laws was the first female Prime Minister of Finland, in office from April 17, 2003 to June 24, 2003....
, also of the Centre Party.
Prominent party leaders
- Lauri Kristian Relander
Lauri Kristian Relander was the second President of Finland . A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his election as President ....
, President 1925-1931
- Kyösti Kallio
Kyösti Kallio [IPA: kyøsti kallio] was the fourth President of Finland . He was a prominent leader of the Agrarian League, and had previously been Prime Minister four times and Speaker of the Parliament six times .Kyösti Kallio was born in Ylivieska, Finland...
, Prime Minister four times 1922-1937, President 1937-1940
- Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland and later as President of Finland . Kekkonen continued the "active neutrality" policy of President Juho Kusti Paasikivi, which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen Line...
, Prime Minister twice 1950-1956, President 1956-1981
- Martti Miettunen
Martti Johannes Miettunen was a politician in Finland. He was prime minister in 1961–1962 and 1975–1977 ....
, Prime Minister twice 1961-1977
- Ahti Karjalainen
Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen was a Finnish politician. He was a member of the Agrarian League and was Prime Minister of Finland for two terms . Karjalainen can be considered one of the most influential people in post-war Finnish politics and economy...
, Prime Minister
List of party Chairmen
- Otto Karhi
Otto Karhi was the first Chairman of Centre Party from 1906 to 1909 . He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1907 to 1913.There is a park named after him in Oulu....
1906-1909
- Kyösti Kallio
Kyösti Kallio [IPA: kyøsti kallio] was the fourth President of Finland . He was a prominent leader of the Agrarian League, and had previously been Prime Minister four times and Speaker of the Parliament six times .Kyösti Kallio was born in Ylivieska, Finland...
1909-1917
- Filip Saalasti 1918
- Santeri Alkio
Santeri Alkio was a Finnish politician, author and journalist. He is also considered to be the ideological father of Finnish Centre Party.-History:...
1918
- Petter Vilhelm Heikkinen 1919-1940
- Viljami Kalliokoski 1941-1945
- Vieno Johannes Sukselainen 1946-1964
- Johannes Virolainen
Johannes Virolainen was a Finnish politician.Virolainen was born near Viipuri. After the Continuation War Virolainen moved to Lohja, but he remained one of the leaders of the evacuated Karelians, and never gave up the hope that Soviet Union and later Russia would return Finnish Karelia to Finland...
1965-1980 - Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament
- Paavo Väyrynen
Paavo Matti Väyrynen is a Finnish veteran politician of the Centre Party. He is currently Minister for Foreign Trade and Development in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet...
1980-1990 - Foreign Minister, Member of the European parliament
- Esko Aho
Esko Tapani Aho is a statesman and former Prime Minister of Finland .Aho was born in Veteli, Finland. He was known by the nickname "Kannuksen Kennedy" due to his streamlined and well coiffed habitus, a comparison with United States President John F...
1990-2000, 2001-2002 - Prime Minister 1991-1995
- Anneli Jäätteenmäki
Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki, Master of Laws was the first female Prime Minister of Finland, in office from April 17, 2003 to June 24, 2003....
2000-2001, 2002-2003 - Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister 2003
- Matti Vanhanen
Matti Taneli Vanhanen is the current Prime Minister of Finland, as well as Chairman of the Keskusta . In the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council...
2003 - Prime Minister
External links
Official website Official website in English Youth organizations official website