1991 Finnish parliamentary election

1991 Finnish parliamentary election

17 March 1991
All 200 seats in the Parliament of Finland 101 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Esko Aho Pertti Paasio Ilkka Suominen Party Centre SDP National Coalition Last election 17.62%, 40 seats 24.14%, 56 seats 23.13%, 53 seats Seats won 55 48 40 Seat change 15 8 13 Popular vote 676,717 603,080 526,487 Percentage 24.83% 22.12% 19.31% Swing 7.21pp 2.02pp 3.82pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Claes Andersson Ole Norrback Heidi Hautala Party Left Alliance RKP Green Last election 13.63%, 20 seats 5.30%, 12 seats 4.03%, 4 seats Seats won 19 11 10 Seat change 1 1 6 Popular vote 274,639 149,476 185,894 Percentage 10.08% 5.48% 6.82% Swing 3.55pp 0.18pp 2.79pp   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Toimi Kankaanniemi Heikki Riihijärvi Kaarina Koivistoinen Party Christian League Rural Party Liberal People's Last election 2.58%, 5 seats 6.32%, 9 seats 0.97%, 0 seats Seats won 8 7 1 Seat change 3 2 1 Popular vote 83,151 132,133 21,210 Percentage 3.05% 4.85% 0.78% Swing 0.47pp 1.47pp 0.19pp
Prime Minister before election Harri Holkeri National Coalition Prime Minister after election Esko Aho Centre

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 March 1991, the first time a Finnish parliamentary election had been held on a single day. For the first time since 1962 the Social Democratic Party was displaced as the largest party in the Eduskunta, with the Centre Party winning 55 seats and forming the first centre-right, non-social democratic government since 1964, with Esko Aho as Prime Minister.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Centre Party	676,717	24.83	55	+15
	Social Democratic Party	603,080	22.12	48	–8
	National Coalition Party	526,487	19.31	40	–13
	Left Alliance	274,639	10.08	19	–1
	Green League	185,894	6.82	10	+6
	Swedish People's Party	149,476	5.48	11	–1
	Finnish Rural Party	132,133	4.85	7	–2
	Finnish Christian League	83,151	3.05	8	+3
	Liberal People's Party	21,210	0.78	1	+1
	Women's Party	12,725	0.47	0	New
	Pensioners' Party	10,762	0.39	0	0
	Constitutional Right Party	7,599	0.28	0	0
	Liberals for Åland–Freeminded–Greens	6,546	0.24	1	0
	Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism	6,201	0.23	0	New
	Independent Non-aligned Pensioners	5,230	0.19	0	New
	Greens	3,835	0.14	0	–
	Humanity Party	2,831	0.10	0	New
	Joint Responsibility Party of Pensioners and the Greens	2,807	0.10	0	New
	Åland Centre	1,858	0.07	0	0
	Åland Social Democrats	940	0.03	0	0
	Others	11,797	0.43	0	–
Total		2,725,918	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		2,725,918	98.16
Invalid/blank votes		51,066	1.84
Total votes		2,776,984	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,060,778	68.39
Source: Tilastokeskus, ASUB

By electoral district

Electoral district	Total seats	Seats won
		Kesk	SDP	Kok	Vas	RKP	Vihr	SKL	SMP	LKP	L–S–G
Åland	1										1
Central Finland	10	3	3	1	1			1	1
Häme	13	3	4	4	1		1
Helsinki	20	1	5	6	2	2	3	1
Kymi	13	4	5	3			1
Lapland	8	5	1		2
North Karelia	7	3	2	1				1
North Savo	10	5	2	1	1				1
Oulu	18	9	2	2	3		1			1
Pirkanmaa	15	2	4	4	2		1	1	1
Satakunta	12	3	3	2	2			1	1
South Savo	8	3	3	2
Uusima	30	4	7	8	2	4	3	1	1
Vaasa	18	6	3	2	1	4		1	1
Varsinais-Suomi	17	4	4	4	2	1		1	1
Total	200	55	48	40	19	11	10	8	7	1	1
Source: Statistics Finland

By province

Province	Centre	Social Democratic	National Coalition	Left Alliance	Green League	Swedish People's	Rural	Christian League	Liberal People's	Electorate	Votes	Valid	Invalid
Southern Savonia	32,762	25,057	15,827	3,098	5,472	0	5,219	4,248	137	136,246	94,026	92,536	1,490
Northern Savonia	50,820	23,808	18,139	18,812	9,369	0	9,603	4,187	644	198,532	137,691	136,008	1,683
North Karelia	31,849	27,616	12,402	4,762	3,687	0	5,219	4,679	456	135,563	93,426	92,018	1,408
Kainuu	25,025	5,415	4,681	10,380	2,032	0	1,643	1,427	276	73,204	52,166	51,522	644
Uusimaa	55,048	133,869	158,204	51,038	72,700	66,636	14,506	15,020	4,506	882,630	624,147	606,833	17,314
Eastern Uusimaa	5,480	9,104	5,656	2,036	2,767	16,423	1,076	736	225	64,626	45,583	44,663	920
Southwest Finland	54,669	54,374	52,863	26,805	11,348	12,473	15,160	4,670	839	331,626	242,317	238,321	3,996
Tavastia Proper	19,830	28,006	22,128	7,458	6,143	0	1,943	2,927	177	126,110	92,593	90,681	1,912
Päijänne Tavastia	18,337	24,896	28,713	8,844	8,248	135	5,601	5,009	217	153,066	103,944	101,664	2,280
Kymenlaakso	21,560	37,777	23,918	6,932	6,797	0	2,980	4,157	559	152,984	108,375	106,177	2,198
South Karelia	22,362	25,293	13,348	2,151	4,738	0	2,738	4,786	1,148	111,298	79,282	77,730	1,552
Central Finland	44,213	35,146	18,862	15,841	7,599	0	10,447	7,217	375	194,921	142,551	140,622	1,929
Southern Ostrobothnia	58,982	13,706	22,198	5,702	2,736	196	10,670	3,276	358	151,962	120,135	119,135	1,000
Ostrobothnia	10,758	17,164	8,336	6,624	3,027	48,646	1,879	2,394	550	130,603	101,151	100,205	946
Satakunta	32,203	39,104	28,548	20,488	6,332	0	6,985	3,916	349	191,700	142,335	139,915	2,420
Pirkanmaa	33,145	57,539	56,606	32,115	16,192	0	25,490	6,957	2,184	330,397	238,809	233,966	4,843
Central Ostrobothnia	18,906	6,442	2,766	2,518	932	3,246	2,326	3,510	283	51,978	41,640	41,174	466
Northern Ostrobothnia	82,748	20,375	20,856	25,405	10,991	0	6,042	2,538	7,367	246,074	180,451	178,227	2,224
Lapland	56,350	15,571	9,951	22,068	3,926	0	2,169	1,153	456	150,094	114,093	112,505	1,588
Åland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18,455	9,382	9,263	119
Source: European Election Database Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine

Aftermath

The new center-right coalition government would not have an easy time governing the country. The fall of the Soviet Union caused a collapse in trade with the east, which together with a worldwide recession, caused major economic problems including high unemployment and ballooning budget deficits. In response, the government adopted strict austerity measures, such as cuts in public spending, the unpopularity of which led to the government's defeat in the 1995 elections.