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Centre Party (Finland)
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| Abbreviation | Finnish: Kesk Swedish: C |
| Chairperson | Antti Kaikkonen |
| Secretary | Antti Siika-aho |
| General Secretary | Anna-Mari Vimpari |
| Parliamentary group leader | Antti Kurvinen |
| Deputy chairs | Tuomas Kettunen Hilkka Kemppi Markus Lohi |
| Founded | 1906 |
| Merger of | SML EPNM |
| Headquarters | Apollonkatu 11A, 00100 Helsinki |
| Newspaper | Suomenmaa |
| Think tank | Ajatuspaja Alkio |
| 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[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| European Parliament group | Renew Europe |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Nordic affiliation | Centre Group |
| Colours | Green |
| Eduskunta | 22 / 200 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 15 |
| Municipalities | 2,445 / 8,859 |
| County seats | 297 / 1,379 |
| Website | |
| keskusta | |
The Centre Party, (Finnish: Suomen Keskusta [ˈsuo̯men ˈkeskustɑ], Kesk; Swedish: Centern i Finland, C) officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian-centrist political party in Finland.[2] Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in the centre of the political spectrum.[2][3][4] It has been described as being liberal,[5] social-liberal,[6] liberal-conservative,[3][7] and conservative-liberal.[8] The party’s leader is Antti Kaikkonen, who was elected in June 2024 to succeed former minister Annika Saarikko.[9] As of June 2023, the party has been a part of the parliamentary opposition.
Founded in 1906 as the Agrarian League (Finnish: Maalaisliitto; Swedish: Agrarförbundet), the party represented rural communities and supported the decentralisation of political power from Helsinki. In the 1920s, the party emerged as the main rival to the SDP. Kyösti Kallio, the party's first prime minister, held the office for 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^
- 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.
- ^ "Centre Party picks Kaikkonen as new leader, NCP re-elects Orpo". yle. yle.fi. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
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