1978 Finnish presidential election

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1978 Finnish presidential election

← 1968 15–16 January 1978 1982 →
  Urho Kekkonen Raino Westerholm
Candidate Urho Kekkonen Raino Westerholm
Party Centre Christian League
Electoral vote 259 25
Popular vote 2,017,631 215,244

  Veikko Vennamo
CPP
Candidate Veikko Vennamo
Party Rural Party Constitutional People's Party
Electoral vote 10 6
Popular vote 114,488 82,478

President before election

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Elected President

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1978, the first since 1968 after Urho Kekkonen's term was extended by four years by Parliament.[1] The public elected presidential electors to an electoral college on 15 and 16 January.[2] They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won on the first ballot.[1] The turnout for the popular vote was 64.3.[3] Kekkonen had in the spring of 1975 agreed to become the Social Democratic presidential candidate, and after that all the major Finnish political parties chose him as their candidate. Kekkonen's opponents, such as the Christian League's presidential candidate Raino Westerholm, claimed that Kekkonen's long presidency weakened the Finnish democracy. Over one-third of the Finnish voters abstained from voting, partly as a protest against Kekkonen's expected landslide victory.

The 77-year-old President Kekkonen's health was already declining, although this fact was not easily noticeable in his public appearances.[4][5][6]

Results[]

Popular vote[]

Alliance or party Votes % Seats
Supporters of Urho Kekkonen Social Democratic Party 569,154 23.2 74
Centre Party 475,372 19.4 64
Finnish People's Democratic League 445,098 18.2 56
National Coalition Party 360,310 14.7 45
Swedish People's Party 88,054 3.6 12
Liberals 71,232 2.9 8
5,331 0.2 1
Socialist Workers Party 2,187 0.1 0
893 0.0 0
Finnish Christian League 215,244 8.8 24
Finnish Rural Party 114,488 4.7 10
Constitutional People's Party 82,478 3.4 6
Finnish People's Unity Party 18,543 0.8 0
Invalid/blank votes 21,955
Total 2,470,339 100 300
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college[]

Candidate Party Votes %
Urho Kekkonen Centre Party 259 86.3
Raino Westerholm Finnish Christian League 25 8.3
Veikko Vennamo Finnish Rural Party 10 3.3
Constitutional People's Party 6 2.0
Total 300 100
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References[]

  1. ^ a b Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p630 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p606
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p624
  4. ^ Timo Vihavainen (2003) "The Welfare Finland" (Hyvinvointi-Suomi), pp883–884 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY
  5. ^ Pentti Virrankoski (2009) A History of Finland, Finnish Literature Society, p963
  6. ^ Aarno Laitinen et al., eds. (1981) Tamminiemi's Inheritance Dividers, Journalists Ltd
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