Parliament of Finland

The Parliament of Finland (in Finnish: Suomen eduskunta; in Swedish: Finlands riksdag) is the unicameral body that holds the legislative power of Finland, founded on May 9, 1906. According to the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in this body.

Legislation can be initiated by the Government or one of the members of Parliament. Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises government activities. It can cause the government to resign, override presidential vetoes and amend the Constitution. To make changes to the Constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between, or passed as an emergency law with a majority of 166/200. Most deputies work in parliamentary groups that correspond to political parties. Since the establishment of Parliament in 1905, a parliamentary majority has been achieved once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 elections. Therefore, for the government to obtain a majority in Parliament, coalition governments are favored.. Ministers are often but not necessarily parliamentarians. Parliament meets in Parliament House, Eduskuntatalo, which is located in the center of Helsinki.

Choice

Parliament is made up of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years in 13 multi-member districts that are elected using the d'Hondt method. There is also a member from Åland, elected differently from the rest of the country.

History

The Parliament of Finland was preceded by the Diet of Finland (Swedish: lantdagen; Finnish: maapäivät; in current Finnish, valtiopäivät), which succeeded the Riksdag of the States in 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act of 1906, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy and principality under the Tsar of Russia, who ruled with the title of Grand Duke of Finland, rather than an absolute monarch, Finland became a constitutional monarchy and was the second country in the world in implementing universal suffrage. Women could vote and run for office as equals, and this also applied to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The first election for Parliament was organized in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 women representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which increased to 21 in 1913.

The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916, the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by Tsar Nicholas II and the so-called "saber senate" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed by officers of the Imperial Russian Army during the second period of "Russification". Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year.

The Finnish Parliament received true political power for the first time after the February Revolution (First Revolution) of 1917 in Russia. Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 suffered a civil war in which the Senate forces, known as the White Guard, defeated the socialist Red Guard.

After the war, monarchists and republicans fought over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to have won a victory when Parliament elected a German prince as King of Finland in the autumn of 1918. This decision was made on the basis that other Scandinavian countries also had monarchs. However, the elected king renounced the throne after Imperial Germany was defeated in World War I on November 11, 1918. In the parliamentary elections of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing ambitions of the monarchists. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but to appease the monarchical parties, who favored a strong head of state, the president of Finland was granted broad powers.

When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War in early December 1939, Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily moved to Kauhajoki, a town in western Finland far from the front line. Parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, the last on February 12, 1940.

The Constitution of 1919, which established a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was accountable to Parliament, the president exercised considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by veteran president Urho Kekkonen. Because the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in state legislation and finances could be blocked by a qualified one-third minority. This, together with the inability of some of the parties to enter coalition governments, led to weak and short-lived cabinets.

During President Mauno Koivisto's term in the 1980s, cabinets that lasted the entire legislature became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was phased out, and Parliament's powers were greatly increased in the 1991 constitutional reform.

The revised 2000 draft of the Finnish constitution removed almost all of the President's internal powers, strengthening the position of the cabinet and Parliament. It also included methods for debating EU legislation under preparation in Parliament.

Dissolutions of Parliament

The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved nine times during its existence. The last one was on June 4, 1975.

Composition of parliament

In the last general elections, held in April 2023, the following political parties obtained seats: