23.52 100% of votes are counted in the election for Finland’s 200-seat parliament.
Results:
Kokoomus, the National Coalition party (moderate conservative) 20,4%, 44 seats
Social Democratic Party 19,1%, 42 seats
True Finns 19,0%, 39 seats
Centre 15,8%, 35 seats
Left Alliance 8,1%, 14 seats
Greens 7,2%, 10 seats
Swedish People’s Party 4,3%, 9 seats
Christian Democrats 4,0%, 6 seats
Other (Åland’s parliament member), 1 seat
Turnout was 70,4%.
- The big news of the night is that the True Finns have performed at the top end of expectations, winning over 19% of votes. A record-breaking 15 percent increase on their performance in the last election. Timo Soini’s populists will certainly be invited to government formation negotiations. Will they even be in government?
- The conservative National Coalition Kokoomus are the largest party in parliament for the first time in history. Party chair Jyrki Katainen is likely to be Finland’s new prime minister.
- The Social Democratic Party has come second. Will it enter government together with Kokoomus?
- The Centre Party have had a terrible election. The party of Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi have lost over seven percent of the electoral share compared to 2007.
- The Swedish People’s Party has had a good night. In an election with a high turnout, something that usually negatively effects SFP, the party has managed to retain all of its mandates. Apart from the True Finns, SFP is the only party not to have lost seats in parliament.
That is the end of this live blog, thank you for reading it. You can find full results in English from the Ministry of Justice’s results service here.
23.49 Counting in Nyland/Uusimaa electoral district is complete, the largest and last district to finalise counting. Timo Soini, chair of True Finns, beats Alexander Stubb (Kokoomus) by around 2000 votes to be the vote king in Nyland (and the entire country). SFP manages to hold onto its three mandates – the sitting SFP parliamentarians have been returned.
23.44 It looks like Astrid Thors will take SFP’s seat in Helsingfors/Helsinki. Interviewed on Yle, she says that the other government parties have acted wrongly in their lack of meeting populist immigration critics head-on. Thors has had to bear the brunt of much populist hatred due to her position as Migration Minister. She reminds us that there are 80% of the country who do not want to have the True Finns politics.
23.23 Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb tops Kokoomus’ candidates in Nyland/Uusimaa, beating his party chairman and leading candidate for Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen.
23.19 Only 100 votes between Astrid Thors and Jörn Donner in the battle for SFP’s mandate in the capital city. Too close to call.
23.03 Is this the sixth or seventh election in a row that the Centre party has gone backwards in support asks Professor Göran Djupsund in Yle’s coverage.
22.59 Can the True Finns really sit in government together with Kokoomus? True Finns made a big issue of EU support to Portugal in their campaign. They were strongly against giving Finnish tax-payers money to another country that “had not taken care of its economy”. Kokoomus’ chairman, current Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen, has advocated Finnish support for the EU crisis package to member states in economic trouble. Can either party really make the U-turn required for them to be able to govern together?
22.55 A cartoon in Vasabladet shows an SFP ladybird (the party’s logo) thanking the True Finns and the Finnishness Association for the help in the election campaign. It seems that the strong anti-Swedish feeling that the True Finns have blown up has motivated Swedish-speakers to vote for SFP.
22.52 SFP’s chairman Stefan Wallin is addressing his party’s election night party. He notes that SFP, together with True Finns, is the only party to not have lost any seats in parliament. This is a good result for SFP. Turnout is higher than normal in the country as a whole, normally bad news for SFP. Swedish-speakers tend to be more active voters, but this advantage has been rubbed out in this poll – but SFP have still manage to hold all their seats.
22.44 Voting is finished in Vasa electoral district. SFP retains 4 seats. Centre big losers in this area. Lars-Erik Gästgivars is SFP’s new member of parliament in Vasa (Håkan Nordman is retiring from parliament).
22.40 The True Finns chairman Timo Soini has arrived to massive cheering at his party’s election party. He says they’ve made political history.
22.27
Timo Soini responds to a question on whether he will be in government by answering that he will be taking a sauna with Jyrki Katainen. He hopes to sit in government. Yle points out that this election has been bad for gender equality. The True Finns are a very male-dominated party and are taking around 40 seats.
22.13 Maria Wetterstand, joint leader of Sweden’s Green party, is being interviewed on Yle. She is married to Finnish Green MP Ville Niinistö. She says that she thinks Finland has handled the True Finns very badly. According to Wetterstand, the other parties should acted cowardly. Only the Greens and SFp have spoken clearly against True Finns, the others have adopted much of their immigrant-critical populist rhetoric.
22.08 Swedish People’s Party will almost certainly win four seats in the Vasa electoral district. Ulla-Maj Wideroos of SFP says that it can be so that the True Finns and SFP are the only victors in this election. She notes that the True Finns are very long from SFP’s values and that Timo Soini’s values don’t belong in her idea of what Finland is. If True Finns enter government, will this mean SFP will leave government after decades?
22.07 81% of the votes are now counted. Kokoomus in lead with 20%, True Finns 19,4%, SDP 19%, Centre 15,9%, Left Alliance 8,2%, Greens 7,2%, SFP 4,3%, Christian Democrats 4,1%, Pirate Party 0,5%, Others 1,5%
22.03 A quick flick of the channels from Finnish television to Swedish Television (SVT) for the start of the main evening news bulletin in our western neighbour. The populist True Finns success is the main story. Nearly 20% of the votes to True Finns. This is not a good day for Finland’s international reputation. The Swedish media is finding it hard to understand how the True Finns can do so well in a country with so few immigrants.
21.58 First time turnout has been above 70% since 1995. The True Finns have at least increased interest in the democratic process.
21.48 If the True Finns are this election’s big winners, the Centre party and the Greens must be the big losers. Where have Green voters turned to? Whilst it’s feasible that many Centre voters have turned to the True Finns, it seems unlikely that liberal Green party voters would choose Timo Soini’s party. Indeed, the Greens were the only party to say they would not govern together with the True Finns. Could they voters have turned to the SDP?
21.46 Åland is the first electoral district to complete its counting in full. Not surprising as it is the smallest and interest in voting in the election is low there. The sole member from Åland Elisabeth Nauclér has been reelected.
21.33 Yle’s analyst notes that should Kokoomus, True Finns and SDP (who are all predicted to gain almost the same number of seats in parliament) form a government they’d have a strong majority without needing any smaller parties. Questionable whether smaller parties such as the Greens and SFP would want to dirty their hands with governing alongside Timo Soini’s populists.
21.28 Finnish radio and tv Yle’s prognosis has just been released.
True Finns and Kokoomus tie for first place with 19,8 percent of the vote each! SDP in third with 18,5. Prime minister’s Centre party 16,4 percent and practically certain to be in opposition. Left Alliance 7,9, Greens 7,3, SFP 4,2, Christian Democrats 4,0. A MAJOR upset. In the past, Yle’s prediction have been very accurate. Let’s hope it is not this time. It looks like True Finns will be in government if this is true. A horrendous blow for Finland’s reputation.
21.19 Prime Minister Kiviniemi has just told television that Centre is likely to go into opposition. When asked if it would be her first choice to go into opposition so that the party could lick its wounds, she seemed to agree it would be the best course of action. Could we see a Kokoomus-SDP government?
21.07 Just now, it looks like the Swedish People’s Party (SFP) may win an extra seat – if this occurred SFP would be the only party other than the True Finns to go forward in this election.
21.06 Four large parties of almost the same size. A very unusual situation in politics when one thinks of other countries.
21.05 Caution on the results to date. Many, many advanced votes in the country’s biggest electoral district, Nyland/Uusimaa, are not even counted yet. Likely to be many votes for Kokoomus amongst these. They are strong in Nyland.
21.00 47% of votes counted. There’s only 0,4 % (!) between the four largest parties!
20.55 Situation just now (percent) Kokoomus (conservatives) 19,2, SDP 19,0, True Finns 18,7, Centre 18,5, Left Alliance 8,2, Greens 6,0, Christian Democrats 4,3, Swedish People’s Party 4,2
20.29 Europe and Migration Minister Astrid Thors is currently around 300 votes ahead of fellow SFP candidate Jörn Donner in Helsingfors/Helsinki electoral district. SFP in a terrible position in Vasa electoral district, as things are now, they’d lose 2 seats in Österbotten, but they may be many votes cast today yet to be counted.
20.17 True Finns leader Timo Soini is the current “vote king”, having the highest number of individual votes. The extreme right winger Jussi Hallo-aho is in 5th place, also a True Finn.
20.12 Centre party’s chair, prime minister Mari Kiviniemi has just told YLE’s Swedish-tv channel that if this is the final result, Centre will go into opposition! A slip of the tongue in a second language?
20.10 Finland’s likely next prime minister, Kokoomus leader Jyrki Katainen speaking to TV. You can see first results on the caption.
20.03 The Finnish people have voted, polling stations are closed. Advanced voting results come in. Looks like a disaster for the Centre party with 17,3%, down 5,8%. They usually do will in advanced voting. The True Finns have 18,6% of the vote in advanced voting, third place. As expected, Kokoomus are in the lead with 20.2%, but the SDP are close behind on 19,5%. SFP are behind slightly over 1 per cent on the last election, but Swedish-speakings generally vote on the election day, and those results will come in as they are counted. ALL parties, except the True Finns, are behind on the last election.
19.52 Whilst advanced voting results will come in at 20.00, after poll’s close, we will have to wait until around 21.00 for a firm idea of how the next parliament will look. At that time, the Finnish national broadcaster Yle will release its first election prognosis. This is usually a highly reliable guide to the final result.
19.45 Just fifteen minutes until polling stations close and those first results are announced. Voting is expected to have been high today. The weather was good and people are invigorated by what was an exciting campaign. Hopefully turn out will pass 70% this time. The last two elections have seen shamefully low turnouts: only 67,9% of the electorate voted in 2007. By way of comparison, almost 85% of Swedes voted in their latest parliamentary election in September.
19.01 The polls close in just under one hour. Counting of votes cast in advance has already started and the results of advanced voting will be released immediately after the polls close at 20.00. Some news reports earlier in the day suggested that it might not be possible to count them all in time as there are so many advanced votes to count. Over 30% of the electorate chose to vote in advance this year. Residents of rural municipalities are usually those that cast their vote in advance in greatest numbers, so expect the first results to put the Centre party in the lead. The Centre party, with its roots in the agrarian movement, has its strongholds in the more sparsely populated countryside. Swedish-speaking Finns often leave voting to the day itself, so expect a relatively poor showing for the Swedish People’s Party (SFP) amongst the first returns. The first results should show if the opinion polls are right on the True Finns – will they emerge with more than 15% of the vote?
18.50 Welcome to this live blog of Finland’s 2011 parliamentary election. I obviously can’t provide a comprehensive results service, but I’ll be providing some snippets of what’s happening as the results come in. Naturally, with a focus on Swedish-speaking Finland. All times are Finnish time, we’re three hours ahead of GMT – and one hour ahead of central Europe.
The Justice Ministry’s election results service can be found online here. It will be updated with the latest results as they come in from municipalities and electoral districts across the country.
26 comments
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Sunday 17.4.11 at 21:57
alexander duffy
thank you. finland is one of europes countries, but the general coverage of the election results on ‘mainstream’ media (bbc, deutsche welle, fr1) was abysmal and or non existent. you have run an interesting and useful commentary. thank you once again.
Sunday 17.4.11 at 22:36
lefty
I don’t think True Finns is necessarily that bad. They’re a populist party, so there is fairly large chance that they will cave in on many of their promises. If you consider their policies, they probably sound a lot worse than they are. And the fact that they are a protest movement (so far) could also simply mean neutral change rather than some ultraconservatism.
When they have to cope with reality, they’ll mostly end up with fairly centrist policies. They might not even be that bad for immigration. If they end up with rational conclusions, they might actually vastly improve the integration policies and improve the efficiency of the system.
Frankly, I think PS + SDP + VAS + RKP would provide a stable base and not that bad politically even. Probably won’t happen, though. I won’t be happy with PS + KOK, which seems fairly likely.
A minority government would also be good for democracy, because that would force the government to negotiate a lot, which could result in more rational law-making than we’ve typically seen. However, a government of any three large parties would be extremely bad for democracy.
WRT where the Greens lost their votes, I think to Vasemmistoliitto. They’ve now largely completed their repositioning to a modern, green, liberal leftist party. I think they lost their old-school, “hard line” voters to SDP (and of course True Finns and communist parties), who also got many votes from Keskusta and probably even some from Kokoomus.
Also, the Pirate party probably got many formerly Green votes, because despite the Greens’ rhetoric about the Internet, new technology and basic rights, not much has been seen done. In fact, the party has largely voted against those principles, even though it has often officially recognized the need for changes in those areas.
Sunday 17.4.11 at 23:41
Sedu
Next goverment: KOK + SDP + Vegetable Party + Swedish Chicks.
Primitive Finns party will have enough noise to make scene in parliament during the next 4 years. I do not think any other party will be enough brave to form a coalition with them because it will mean a big losses in next election. Lets say if KOK works with PS they will crash much worse then keskus people after 4 years.
If the economy starts growing then their protest votes will fade away and they will be back to their real supporters range which is probably not more than 6,7%
Sunday 17.4.11 at 23:49
barb
I am appalled that the True Finn Party did so well in your country’s election! No Man Is An Island! and that goes for Countries as well….hope those Finnish citizens that voted for the True Finn Party never need to be helped in any way cause everything that goes around comes around! Careful what you wish for….you just might get it!
Sunday 17.4.11 at 23:50
Gianluca
Thank you very much for your coverage of the Finnish Parliamentary election. I’ve been following your blog for a while, and I’ve always found him very interesting and informative. Unfortunately we do not hear much about Finland, let alone about Finland’s Swedish-speaking community, here in Italy. Thank you once more.
Monday 18.4.11 at 0:47
lefty
I think the problem is still largely that True Finns are unfairly demonized.
As long as the general attitude within politics is like that – not only against True Finns but also against other people and ideas and opinions outside the prevailing political consensus (which is what mr. Soini dubs the elite) – the protest voting will continue. Or maybe the interest in politics will wane and the politicians will become ever more despised.
This whole thing is all about the lack of serious and inclusive public discussion based on facts and figures about a lot of things. There has been a lot less of that than ideological statements.
Barb, I don’t know where you’re from or where you get your news from, but I don’t think they’re the antichrist they’ve been portrayd as in media. Granted, their opinions are not attractive, but I’m sure there is a lot of room for constructive discussion and for reaching a consensus of some sort. A lot of it has to do with poor grasp facts, which is brought on by the lack of proper discussion.
Sedu, I think SDP + KOK + KESK is a possibility, but I think that would be very destructive and divisive way of doing politics. The whole “we won’t play play with you” attitude will only fuel the flames. There is an actual need for change. That combination would also be bypassing the smaller parties which would be a horrible disdain of democracy. The other option is a rainbow coalition, the aftereffects of which is partially what were seeing right now.
I disagree with you that the protest votes PS got were about the economy. Or at least they are not about the economy as a whole. The economic aspect of it has a lot to do with the working class and precarity and youth, which no party has yet started tackling. And from the looks of things, those issues will continue to not be tackled.
Even if the economy soars, those groups will still be largely left out of its benefits unless something is done. That’s what happened the last time and nothing has improved since then.
The immigration stuff has a lot to do with migrants concentrating (esp.) in Eastern Helsinki and their seeming lack of integration to society, both of which cause problems elsewhere as well (Paris, Malmö, …). It is about tackling a problem before it really becomes one. People don’t really object to working and fully integrated immigrants.
Monday 18.4.11 at 1:08
jokuvaan
Green party has to think now are they pro-gay, pro-cannabis and pro-Islam party or will they turn back to environmental protection. Some old-school Greens jumped off their ship before elections and that was sure omen of things to come.
Center party made a huge error with new waste water law and paid dearly. I think it’s also clear that conservative wing will make some come back.
SDP was saved by Urpilainen’s total personal transformation. If it had been old Urpilainen on those TV-events, it would been a disaster.
It’s very clear where immigration politics will move. SDP wants to hit on HUGE number of Estonians and Russians who work here and dont pay any taxes. Soini’s team will hit hard on economic refugees and that will be backed by right wing of Kokoomus.
I expect very difficult negotiations. Finland wont get freedom from Swedish language yet but even stopping the Folktinget program and many sneaky plans of Virkkunen and Brax would be significant achievement.
Monday 18.4.11 at 1:57
Elwood Sanders
I blogged at Virginia Right on the Finnish election from an anti-EU position.
Sandy
Monday 18.4.11 at 2:34
Troels-Peter
Hej Jonas, thanks for the work.
What do you think will be the most probable government options by now? Would the Coalition Party and the Social Democrats actually be able to cooperate in a government?
Monday 18.4.11 at 8:48
Timothy Bryan
Jonas,
Sorry I didn’t see it live, but thanks for the information. I am sorry to see the True Finns do so well, especially if it short-circuits my ability to move there@!
Tack så mycket!
Monday 18.4.11 at 13:55
lefty
“Would the Coalition Party and the Social Democrats actually be able to cooperate in a government?”
I’m not Jonas, but I don’t see why not. They have done so in numerous occasions before. Finnish politics is consensus-based and not the binary politics seen in the US, for example. It is actually very rare for parties to publicly announce that they are not willing to work with some other party even if they don’t necessarily share any common ground.
That is why I was a bit shocked to see the Green League do just that WRT True Finns. It certainly didn’t help them during the elections as it seemed to confirm True Finns’ rhetoric. I think they DO share very much the same goals especially when it comes to helping the lower classes and precarity. I don’t even necessarily see their goals regarding immigration or other other issues being that different. They may approach them from completely different angles and from different ideological bases, but I think, in the practical aspects, their efforts have more in common than you would think.
Monday 18.4.11 at 17:39
Prometo
I was not surprised by the results. Hopefully the new government will hear the mandate of the people and begin the process of removing forced Swedish in Finland, and be more business friendly as well. I don’t agree with the PS on everything, but would rather have them in government then SFP.
Monday 18.4.11 at 22:18
Jonas
Thank you to everyone who has commented – and for the compliments. I am glad people found this live blog of interest.
I am sorry that I do not have the time right now to address all the comments and questions individually.
However, it is certainly possible for the National Coalition Party to sit in government together with the Social Democrats. It has occurred before. One should also note that in many areas, the SDP and True Finns actually have more in common than the True Finns and National Coalition. For instance, on support to EU economies in trouble (the “Portugal issue” if you will); SDP has been far more lukewarm in its approach compared with Kokoomus that is pro-support. One could accuse the SDP of populism in this area – it has previously been relatively strongly pro-EU. In terms of economic policy in general, Soini’s party is nearer the SDP. Kokoomus may well want to bring in SFP so that it is less isolated on issues such as the economy, SFP and Kokoomus have more compatible lines on this area. SFP in government may also suit SDP, as on issues such as Swedish and immigration, it would provide a counter-weight voice to True Finns. But, it will be difficult for SFP. Is it better to enter opposition for the first time since 1979 rather than sit in government with Fenno-nationlists? Or would it be better for them to do their best to moderate the effects of True Finns by sitting in government? In some ways a choice between “the plague and cholera” as the Swedish expression goes. Either way, they will be open to criticism.
The more pressing question really is, will Soini actually be able to compromise to the degree necessary in order to enter government with Kokoomus and the Social Democrats? Previously, Finnish parties have been able to ditch major parts of the electoral programme in order to form governments. But, populist parties are somewhat different. They may have less flexibility. Should Soini compromise on Portugal, immigration and Swedish, would he not risk his party’s support collapsing in the next election? Indeed, for the mainstream parties that might be what they’re hoping – that they can embrace the True Finns to death.
Tuesday 19.4.11 at 0:26
Jantunen
You really think RKP can just choose wether to sit in goverment or not?? There’s really no reason why RKP should be in goverment: they lost some votes, they became the second smallest party and if the three biggest parties form the goverment, there wont even be room for RKP. And finally, they have been since 1979, like you said. Democracy wants them out.
I know how you hate PS but calling them populists or Fenno-nationlists is just childish, it’s the same as calling RKP for “svekomaniacs” or elitists.
BTW. funny that you mentioned how Astrid Thors said: “_ _there are 80% of the country who do not want to have the True Finns politics. ” So, with this logical reasoning, 96% of the country do not want to have the RKP politics.
Tuesday 19.4.11 at 0:43
Jonas
Well, of course, by the same logic almost 30% don’t want any politics. Although, after yesterday’s result, I suspect that might actually be higher. But, there is rather a difference between SFP (RKP) and the True Finns. Indeed, there is a difference between all the other parties and the True Finns.
No, I don’t think SFP can “just choose whether to sit in government or not”. Nor did I say that. They will only be in a position to make a choice if they are included in the talks by the eventual larger constituents of the government. If you read again what I wrote, I said that Kokoomus may very well want to bring SFP into the government as a support party for their more liberal view on economic matters. Kokoomus would be quite isolated on economic matters if its partners are SDP and True Finns.
As for democracy wanting SFP out, I am not so sure it’s that simple. That is not how Finnish consensus politics works. No party has a majority on its own. It’s also interesting that SFP was the only party that did not lose seats to the True Finns, all the other established parties went backwards.
Tuesday 19.4.11 at 0:57
Rasmus
The True Finns are hard to categorize. Hard-right label is applied because of their strong anti-immigrant and nationalistic policies. But, there economic politics are rather more social democratic in nature. Their culture policies are pretty much Stalinist. Perhaps the old way of thinking in left-right terms doesn’t really work with them just because they’re ultimately populists. They have said what they think will reliably win them votes from a certain sector of the population: Increase pensions, fairer wages, less immigrants, Finnish tax money staying in Finland. It’s a somewhat simplistic message, but populism clearly has clearly let them win nearly 20% of the votes.
And of course, the protest effect is there too. They are not a mainstream party, voting for the True Finns is a way of voting against Center, Kokoomus, SDP etc. Maybe Timo Soini also had timing on his side with the Portugal crisis package being a current issue. It’s easy to win votes by saying Finland should not be paying for some far away southern European country that has failed to manage its economy properly. Perhaps Soini should be sending a thank you card to Lisbon!
Wednesday 20.4.11 at 3:23
Troels-Peter
They sound pretty much like the Danish People’s Party here.
The Finnish way of forming governments is indeed interesting from a Scandinavian and a European perspective since bridging the gap between the traditional wings is not that common anywere else. Reminds me of the Faroe Islands, actually.
is it true that some regard “true Finns” as a misinterpretation of the finnish name? Obviously the English word “true” has more meanings but e.g. in German and Norwegian/Danish they are often referred to as “wahre Finnen” and “sanne/sande finner” respectively, these words meaning “true” as opposed to “false”.
What other denotations and connotations does “perus” have?
One comment as to “democracy wants them out” above. I can’t help thinking that democracy, being just a form of government, really has no will of its own. I suppose you can say about a party that the majority wants it out of government, but since no Finnish party has an absolute majority, you can say that about all of them.
That’s why I’m interested in the coalition talks.
Wednesday 20.4.11 at 13:59
jokuvaan
Small country in dangerous place cannot afford to huge internal battles in politics, that’s why almost any party combination is possible.
Perus means “basic” and “common”, it has nothing to do with true/false.
Bedrock is peruskallio
Groundwork is perustus
Founder is perustaja
Basic food is perus ruoka
Some party member tried to change the english name already in last big meeting but I’m sure they will change it, current has really bad sound in it.
Wednesday 20.4.11 at 18:05
Jonas
Hi Troels-Peter,
Yes, Perus doesn’t really mean “true”. I actually think it would be better to translate it as basic, as most of their members come across as pretty basic to me! But, I think it’s hard to find a translation in English that would have the same connotations as the Finnish – where it brings up associations of the common people, basic general values etc. The Swedish language name “Sannfinländarna” means the same as the Norwegian and Danish (and English): The True Finns (except that we differentiate between finnar and finländare – although I don’t find that the True Finns are very keen on representing that wider group, so perhaps they should be Sannfinnarna). Perhaps because it is easier to directly translate, the Swedish name has been the basis for the English and other language versions? Who knows. It’s natural that the other Scandinavian languages would use the Swedish. Also, you could say that ‘True’ is the nearest and best you can get contextually as a meaningful direct translation is not feasible.
I think our system of ultra-consensus in government forming has not had to really deal with a situation like this before. We could now see a crisis of legitimacy whatever happens this time. There is no straight-forward solution. Perhaps the eventual government will not last the full four years. If I have time, I will blog on this more… but I am about to go on Easter holiday to the in-laws!
Wednesday 20.4.11 at 21:37
Timothy Bryan
Enjoy your Easter Jonas!
Wednesday 20.4.11 at 23:06
Troels-Peter
Yes, I didn’t know about other meanings of the Swedish “sann” either, and it’s definitely this word that has gone into the translations in the rest of Europe. Then I saw the HBL headline “Sannfinländarna är ‘sanna finländare’ utomlands” and realised that swedish-speaking Finns had to know about some difference. Interesting.
God påske!
Thursday 21.4.11 at 12:31
Jonas
Yes, I saw that in the newspaper also.
Also, see above, Jokuvaan has also offered his thoughts on this matter (must have missed in in the moderation queue).
Also, on translation, I have tended to give up translating Kokoomus (or Kansallinen Kokoomus to give the full name) into English. (National) Coalition (party) is almost certainly confusing to the non-familiar English reader. It does not necessarily sound like a party, but rather a description for one in some kind of coalition government. I noticed that in many Swedish-language election ads, they’ve started using Kokoomus in large letters and ‘Samlingspartiet’ only in smaller text. Kokoomus has become not just their name, but a brand. And of course, its name doesn’t really explain its ideological base as a conservative/moderate party.
Glad påsk åt er alla!
Wednesday 4.5.11 at 5:44
Troels-Peter
I’ve looked up “perus” now, and it seems that it correponds exactly to the Scandinavian “grund”.
Since I started getting interested in Finnish, it keeps amazing me how much the semantic range of Finnish words matches the corresponding Scandinavian words. It’s no wonder of course, given the centuries of influence, but it’s always a funny experience when I read simple sentences in Finnish to see how the idiomatic and other fixed expressions are exactly the same as in Danish/Swedish/Norwegian, only with completely different words.
One out of few exceptions in the dictionary is “perustanskalainen” which translates as “kernedansk”.
So maybe “Perussuomalaiset” in Swedish should be “Grundfinnarna” or “Kärnfinnarna?”
In English, “Basic Finns” or “Elementary Finns” still sounds weird, though.
One comment:
“Small country in dangerous place cannot afford to huge internal battles in politics, that’s why almost any party combination is possible.”
I suppose so, but it just strikes me that Norway and Denmark are equally small, and Estonia and Latvia are equally dangerously situated (and even smaller), but their coalitions generally seem more average European, so I’m just wondering if there’s more to it than that.
Wednesday 4.5.11 at 23:48
Jonas
Hello Troels-Peter,
I am sorry I don’t have time for a longer response. Very busy with work at the current time… hence my silence on the post-electio government formation talks.
But you may be interested in this article:
http://www.hbl.fi/text/inrikes/2011/4/30/w62773.php
Thursday 5.5.11 at 4:57
Troels-Peter
Well, there you are. Two minds, one thought
Thursday 5.5.11 at 20:46
Troels-Peter
And I suppose that’s about all I’ll agree with him on…