Centre Party (Finland)

Centre Party

*Suomen Keskusta* (Finnish)
*Centern i Finland* (Swedish)
Centre Party Suomen Keskusta (Finnish); Centern i Finland (Swedish)
Abbreviation	Kesk
Chairperson	Annika Saarikko
Secretary	Antti Siika-aho
General Secretary	Anna-Mari Vimpari
Parliamentary group leader	Antti Kurvinen
First deputy chair	Petri Honkonen
Second deputy chair	Markus Lohi
Third deputy chair	Hilkka Kemppi
Founded	1906
Merger of	SML; EPNM
Headquarters	Apollonkatu 11 A, 00100 Helsinki
Newspaper	Suomenmaa
Student wing	Finnish Centre Students
Youth wing	Finnish Centre Youth
Women's wing	Finnish Centre Women
Children’s wing	Vesaiset
Membership (2021)	c. 77,000
Ideology	Agrarianism (Nordic); Liberalism;
Political position	Centre
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliation	Liberal International
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Nordic affiliation	Centre Group
Colours	Green
Eduskunta	23 / 200
European Parliament	2 / 14
Municipalities	2,448 / 8,859
County seats	297 / 1,379
Website
	keskusta.fi/en/
	Politics of Finland; Political parties; Elections;

The Centre Party (Finnish: Suomen Keskusta [ˈsuo̯men ˈkeskustɑ], Kesk; Swedish: Centern i Finland), officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian-centrist political party in Finland.^[2] Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in the centre on the political spectrum.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] It has been described as liberal,^[6] social-liberal,^[7] liberal-conservative,^[3]^[8] and conservative-liberal.^[9] The party’s leader is Annika Saarikko, who was elected in September 2020 to follow Katri Kulmuni, the former finance minister of Finland.^[10] As of December 2019, the party has been a coalition partner in the Marin Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Founded in 1906 as the Agrarian League (Finnish: Maalaisliitto; Swedish: Agrarförbundet), the party represented rural communities and supported decentralisation of political power from Helsinki. In the 1920s, the party emerged as the main rival to the SDP and Kyösti Kallio, the party's first prime minister, held the office four times between 1922 and 1937. After World War II, the party settled as one of the four major political parties in Finland, alongside the SDP, the National Coalition Party and the Finnish People's Democratic League until the 1980s. Urho Kekkonen served as President of Finland from 1956 to 1982, by far the longest period of any president. The name Centre Party was adopted in 1965 and Centre of Finland in 1988. The Centre Party was the largest party in Parliament from 2003 to 2011, during which time Matti Vanhanen was prime minister for seven years. By 2011, the party was reduced in parliamentary representation from the largest party to the fourth largest, but it reclaimed its status as the largest party in 2015. In 2019, it suffered a considerable defeat, losing 18 of 49 seats.

As a Nordic agrarian party, the Centre Party's political influence is greatest in small and rural municipalities, where it often holds a majority of the seats in the municipal councils. Decentralisation is the policy that is most characteristic of the Centre Party which has been the ruling party in Finland a number of times since Finnish independence. Twelve of the Prime Ministers of Finland, three of the Presidents and a former European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs have been from the party. The Centre Party is the mother organisation of the Finnish Centre Students, the Finnish Centre Youth and the Finnish Centre Women [fi].

^ "Tällaisia ovat suurimpien puolueiden jäsenet: MTV Uutiset selvitti iät ja sukupuolijakauman – keskustalla, SDP:llä ja vihreillä selvät erityispiirteensä". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Suomen Keskustan periaateohjelma 2018". Suomen Keskusta. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Finland—Political parties". Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ Josep M. Colomer (2008). Political Institutions in Europe. Routledge. p. 260. ISBN 978-1-134-07354-2.
^ Andrews Nordlund (2007). "Nordic social politics in the late twentieth century: An analysis of the political reform agenda". In Nanna Kildal; Stein Kuhnle (eds.). Normative Foundations of the Welfare State: The Nordic Experience. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-134-27283-9.
^
- Svante Ersson; Jan-Erik Lane (1998). Politics and Society in Western Europe. SAGE. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- Gary Marks; Carole Wilson (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Mitchell P. Smith (eds.). Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- Lawrence Ezrow (2011). "Electoral systems and party responsiveness". In Norman Schofield; Gonzalo Caballero (eds.). Political Economy of Institutions, Democracy and Voting. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 319. ISBN 978-3-642-19519-8.
- Jacobsen, Henriette (25 May 2014). "Conservatives and liberals neck-and-neck in Finnish national election". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- "Finnish coalition at risk after party elects far right leader". The Guardian. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- "Finland's NCP in last-ditch attempt to retain power". POLITICO. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
^ "Finland's largest political parties". Information campaign of the European Parliament. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^ "Finnish PM improves his prospects with deft handling of a hot potato". The Guardian. 17 March 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
^ Caroline Close (2019). "The liberal party family ideology: Distinct, but diverse". In Close, Caroline; van Haute, Emilie (eds.). Liberal Parties in Europe. Routledge. pp. 338–339. ISBN 9781351245487.
^ "Keskustan puheenjohtajaksi on valittu Annika Saarikko – "Sanon tämän niin painokkaasti kuin osaan: me tarvitsemme sinua Katri jatkossakin"". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 5 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.

[1] "Tällaisia ovat suurimpien puolueiden jäsenet: MTV Uutiset selvitti iät ja sukupuolijakauman – keskustalla, SDP:llä ja vihreillä selvät erityispiirteensä". Retrieved 27 July 2021.

[periaateohjelma2018-2] "Suomen Keskustan periaateohjelma 2018". Suomen Keskusta. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2024.

[EED-3] "Finland—Political parties". Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

[Colomer2008-4] Josep M. Colomer (2008). Political Institutions in Europe. Routledge. p. 260. ISBN 978-1-134-07354-2.

[Nordlund2007-5] Andrews Nordlund (2007). "Nordic social politics in the late twentieth century: An analysis of the political reform agenda". In Nanna Kildal; Stein Kuhnle (eds.). Normative Foundations of the Welfare State: The Nordic Experience. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-134-27283-9.

[6] 
Svante Ersson; Jan-Erik Lane (1998). Politics and Society in Western Europe. SAGE. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
Gary Marks; Carole Wilson (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Mitchell P. Smith (eds.). Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
Lawrence Ezrow (2011). "Electoral systems and party responsiveness". In Norman Schofield; Gonzalo Caballero (eds.). Political Economy of Institutions, Democracy and Voting. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 319. ISBN 978-3-642-19519-8.
Jacobsen, Henriette (25 May 2014). "Conservatives and liberals neck-and-neck in Finnish national election". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
"Finnish coalition at risk after party elects far right leader". The Guardian. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
"Finland's NCP in last-ditch attempt to retain power". POLITICO. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

[7] Svante Ersson; Jan-Erik Lane (1998). Politics and Society in Western Europe. SAGE. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 17 August 2012.

[8] Gary Marks; Carole Wilson (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Mitchell P. Smith (eds.). Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.

[9] Lawrence Ezrow (2011). "Electoral systems and party responsiveness". In Norman Schofield; Gonzalo Caballero (eds.). Political Economy of Institutions, Democracy and Voting. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 319. ISBN 978-3-642-19519-8.

[10] Jacobsen, Henriette (25 May 2014). "Conservatives and liberals neck-and-neck in Finnish national election". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

[11] "Finnish coalition at risk after party elects far right leader". The Guardian. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

[12] "Finland's NCP in last-ditch attempt to retain power". POLITICO. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

[7] "Finland's largest political parties". Information campaign of the European Parliament. Retrieved 26 August 2021.

[8] "Finnish PM improves his prospects with deft handling of a hot potato". The Guardian. 17 March 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

[Close2019-9] Caroline Close (2019). "The liberal party family ideology: Distinct, but diverse". In Close, Caroline; van Haute, Emilie (eds.). Liberal Parties in Europe. Routledge. pp. 338–339. ISBN 9781351245487.

[10] "Keskustan puheenjohtajaksi on valittu Annika Saarikko – "Sanon tämän niin painokkaasti kuin osaan: me tarvitsemme sinua Katri jatkossakin"". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 5 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]