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The budget of Finland’s national public service broadcaster Yle is again under pressure. Because of an unexpectedly low increase in the television licence fee (which all households owning a TV must pay in Finland), Yle is facing a budget shortfall of around 31 million euros. In order to save money, the idea of closing down one or two of the company’s four television channels has been floated. The Finnish-language cultural and educational TV channel Yle Teema and, more notably, the Swedish-language channel FST5 are under threat.
Speaking today, Yle’s managing director Mikael Jungner said he could not guarantee that FST5 would continue as a channel in its own right but did say that Swedish-language programmes would continue to exist in prime time in the future. This seems to point the way backwards to the period pre-2007, when Swedish-language programmes from FST (Finlands Svenska Television) were broadcast in blocks on the two main (Finnish language) Yle channels, TV1 and TV2.
A step backwards hardly seems the right way to go. Finland has only one Swedish language channel, FST5. To lose it thus would be highly disproportionate compared to the loss of one Finnish language TV channel. There is no opportunity for commercial actors to succeed in providing Swedish television programmes produced in Finland. It’s also important to note that FST5 is, in many ways, more equalitarian in its outreach across the language barrier than other channels. FST5 subtitles all of its programmes in Finnish (with the exception of news bulletins), so they are accessible to the non-Swedish speaking Finnish language speakers. Few to no programmes are subtitled in Swedish on Yle’s Finnish-language channels. Indeed, FST’s flagship programmes such as the lifestyle show Strömsö and the talk show Bettina S clearly attract a large Finnish-speaking audience, as shown in ratings and in comments to their websites. One must also wonder how likely it really is that the Finnish-speaking Yle viewer would once again accept huge interruptions into the hours of Finnish-language content for FST to be given time to broadcast – especially now that he or she is now used to uninterrupted Finnish programming on Yle’s flagship channels.
For many Swedish-speaking Finns, especially those with poor or no command of Finnish, FST5 is the only television channel that presents the world from their point of view. If it closes, Sweden’s television channels will only grow in popularity (at least amongst those who can afford to subscribe to them – which brings up another issue, why in the EU free market does one have to pay to see a neighbour country’s “free” TV) and that will mean a large number of Swedish-speaking Finns will be come disconnected with their homeland. FST is particularly important for young children, for it is only on FST that they can watch children’s TV programmes presented in Finland-Swedish, where they will see children’s TV directed at them. Sweden is, after all, a foreign country. I can’t imagine that British parents would be happy if the only children’s TV on offer to their offspring was American.
Yle clearly must save money. It is being forced to by economics. But, the government could and should step in. We have a quite crazy situation in which the TV distribution technology (transmitters etc) was sold off to foreign ownership in the form of Digita. This company now makes a huge profit in effectively overcharging Yle and others for the distribution of their channels. If the distribution function had remained in public hands, it’s likely Yle would not be facing the difficult decision to have to cut costs from its core activity – the programme budget.
Picture: FST5’s news studio, home of the main TV-nytt news bulletins.
Today, 6 November, is Svenska dagen or ‘Swedish day’, an official flag-day in Finland. The day is to celebrate Finland’s Swedish-speaking culture. Last year was its 100th anniversary.
This year the main Swedish Day celebration is in Jakobstad, but events are occurring around the country in the form of parties which usually feature Swedish language music artists, theatre performances etc. In recent years, a whole Swedish Week has been organised in some cities with an aim of reaching out also to Finnish speakers who are interested in experiencing Swedish language cultural events or just in brushing up their Swedish language skills.
On the occasion of Swedish Day, I thought it would be interesting to tell you about the ‘Song of the Mother tongue’, Modersmålets sång. This is sung as Swedish-speaking events such as school graduation ceremonies and is a kind of unofficial anthem for Swedish-speaking Finns. It was performed for the first time in 1898 and has lyrics that praise the beauty of the ‘mother tongue’ (i.e. the Swedish language) and how it is our greatest inheritance and treasure. The chorus demands that it be heard loudly and freely from shore to shore in the land of the thousand lakes. You can hear it sung by a choir from Åboland via this link on the servers of Åbo Akademi University.
Finland’s highest circulation newspaper, the Finnish-language Helsingin Sanomat (HS), has published an editorial in which it states that the concerns of Swedish-speaking Finns over their rights are justified.
HS states in its leader that the last few years have seen an increasingly tougher climate for Swedish in Finland, primarily as a result of three reasons; an increase in hateful views on Swedish-speakers and Swedish in Finland on a number of internet-based discussion sites, a new generation of politicians who often no longer speak Swedish fluently and a view amongst many politicians that larger institutional units are as effective as small ones. The paper names Helsinki’s recent forced annexation of a significant part of western Sibbo (Sipoo), the decision to close down the maternity ward at Ekenäs hospital, the reform of court districts, the reform of the police’s administrative districts, the attempt to get bilingual Karleby (Kokkola) to join the unilingual Oulu state administrative district against its city council’s will, and the recent proposal for bilingual schools in Esbo (Espoo) as examples of recent policy decisions that cause harm to Swedish-speakers’ rights. The newspaper states that these decisions show that the right to receive services in one’s mother tongue has been relegated to secondary issue when decisions are made.
HS’ editorial states that Swedish-speaking Finns can be a part of the reason behind the change in attitude towards Swedish in FInland. The leader column states that “Swedish-speaking Finns have had a defensive attitude towards their linguistic rights. This has strengthened an understanding amongst Finnish-speakers that Swedish-speakers want to isolate themselves and are inflexible.”
However, HS goes on to state that is is hard for persons belonging to a linguistic majority (i.e. Finnish-speakers) to understand how things seem for a minority group that are constantly concerned about their cultural identity and rights.
Helsingin Sanomat states that is is time for decision-makers to take the rights of Swedish-speaking Finns seriously. The paper underlines that Swedish-speaking Finns are as Finnish as Finnish-speaking Finns and notes that the cultural roots of Swedish-speakers in Finland go back as far as the start of Finnish history.
Helsingin Sanomat’s leader is a welcome contribution and hopefully will provide a welcome call to Finnish-speaking decision makers and civil society who may not even have noticed how recent actions have effected the Swedish-speaking population. For Finland’s bilingualism to work, it needs champions in Finnish-speaking society and amongst Finnish-speaking politicians. We Swedish-speakers can not make it work on our own.
At the same time, the fact that the issue has become so clearly visible even on the radar of the leader pages of Finland’s most influential newspaper reveals just how serious the language climate is right now. We must hope that there are Finnish-speaking politicians, including those in the government, who have read this article today and have realised that constitutional rights must be upheld in order to ensure our law-based society continues to develop hand in hand with the values of fairness.
An opinion survey ordered by the Swedish-speaking think tank ‘Magma’ has concluded that Swedish-speaking Finns are significantly more positive in their attitudes towards immigration than the Finnish-speaking population.
In January 2009, around 40% of Finnish-speakers questioned in an opinion poll answered that they had the same or partly the same opinion on the statement “an increase in the number of foreigners brings with it useful international influences”. When Magma’s survey asked Swedish-speakers the same question in September this year, 75% of respondents gave this answer.
It is interesting to speculate why Swedish-speakers are, on average, more positive towards immigrant groups. One theory is that Swedish-speakers, as a minority group, find it easier to empathise with other people who find themselves in a similar minority situation. After all, many Swedish-speakers have to make compromises when it comes to their language and habits in order to live their life in an increasingly Finnish-language dominated environment. This experience may cause Swedish-speakers to be more sympathetic towards the demands that ‘trying to fit in’ brings for immigrants. Some people also argue that the average Swedish-speaker is, on average, more international in his or her outlook than the the average Finnish-speaker. Swedish-speakers have often nurtured contacts with the outside world, especially the other Nordic countries, with a greater vivacity. Another argument is that there is a greater degree of community involvement amongst Swedish-speakers who have a more developed “association culture”. This may foster a greater degree of what is known in Swedish as medmänsklighet, roughly “solidarity with your fellow man” or “brotherliness”, amongst those living in Svenskfinland. Of course, all such theories come with their controversies, the stark difference in attitudes is, whatever the reason for them, highly interesting.
The youth organisation of the right-wing nationalist True Finns party held its autumn conference in Vasa over this weekend. One of the resolutions that conference delegates agreed upon was a demand that Swedish be abandoned as an official language of the country. According to the True Finns’ youth wing, a disproportionately high amount of taxation revenue is used to offer services in Swedish in comparison with how small an area Swedish is spoken in.
This intolerant attitude is perhaps to be expected from the True Finns and thus comes as no great surprise. It would be too much to expect them to ask, if Swedish is so awful, why so many Finnish-speaking Finns have moved to Swedish-speaking areas in the last half a century? However, the True Finn’s historical revisionist attitude (Swedish has been an established language in the parts of Finland that it is found for at least as long, and sometimes longer, than Finnish) prompts an interesting point – what would Finland be like if there had never been any Swedish-speaking Finns?
Well, Finland’s cultural scene would look very different. Some of the most famous and internationally renowned artists would never have existed. There would be no Moomintrolls, no Topelius and no Sibelius – and so, ironically, no Finlandia – which some anti-Swedish language activists periodically demand to be instated as the national anthem in place of the Runeberg’s Vårt land/Maamme Suomi. Indeed, the national poet Runeberg, who wrote in Swedish, would never have written his epic poem, Fänrik Ståls sänger, which has been heavily used to rouse national sentiment on many an occasion, for instance during the Winter War (it is from this work that the lyrics for the national anthem were taken).
Would Finland still be Finland now? Or would it have become Russified after a massive defeat in a Winter War without the leadership of Mannerheim? Indeed, would we have even gone so long as that before becoming a part of the Soviet Union. Who knows, without Mannerheim commanding the whites, maybe the reds already succeeded in fostering a socialist revolution as they won the civil war in 1918?
The Finnish economy would certainly look very different if Finland had never had any Swedish-speaking Finns. They’d likely be no Fazer, no Stockmann, no Ahlström, no Fiskars, no Abloy (today Assa Abloy), no Viking Line, no Kone. You’d probably not be able to get hold of a Nokia mobile phone, Nokia’s electronics department was set up by a Swedish-speaking Finn, Björn Westerlund.
Of course, if I wanted to really court controversy, I could argue that there would be no written Finnish language. The first work in written Finnish was Mikael Agricola’s translation of the Bible. Agricola was a Swedish-speaking priest from Pernå. Agricola is often hailed as the father of the Finnish language. Its mainstream breakthrough as a language of culture came at the hands of the (Swedish-speaking) romantic nationalist Elias Lönnrot. It was Lönnrot who compiled the Kalevala, the Finnish language’s national epic, a work quite fundamental in shaping many of the beliefs of what it means to be Finnish and that spurred the national awakening. Would no Lönnrot have meant no independence from Russia?
In short, without the Swedish-speaking Finns, Finland would not be the Finland we know it today.
And in post script, I should make it clear that without the Finnish-speaking Finns it would likewise not be the country it is today. Both language groups have helped build this country into what it is. Both fought for this country as Finnish patriots. Finland is the native home of all Finnish people, regardless of whether they speak Swedish or Finnish as their mother tongue. We should not forget our common past nor abandon our common destiny.
The controversial radio presenter Kirsi Virtanen’s programme of 29 July has been reported to the Mass Media regulator.
In her programme of 29 July which was broadcast on the Finnish language channel Ylen Radio 1, Virtanen took up the theme of immigrants and immigration. The programme has caused a lot of debate and discussion in Swedish-speaking media in Finland as in the programme Virtanen stated that people from “foreign countries” are living in Eastern Helsinki, such as Somalians, Russians, Estonians, Turks – and Swedes.
She went on to state that it was ridiculous to criticise immigrants as having bad skills in Finnish so long as there are native Finns who don’t speak Finnish and don’t even want to teach their children Finnish. She said it was “hurtful” that there were Finns who didn’t learn Finnish and stated that Swedish-speaking parents who placed their children in Swedish-language day care should be “ashamed”.
Of course, Virtanen’s logic is aside from discriminative, factually inept. Finland has two national languages, Finnish and Swedish. Swedish is as much a language of Finland as the Finnish language, so it is quite right and proper that there are Finns to be found that speak Swedish and not Finnish, just as the opposite is also found (albeit in far greater numbers). It would be strange to think that two Swedish-speaking parents would choose to speak a language other than their native tongue to their children, even if they are both proficient in Finnish. And if their Finnish is not completely correct, it could be plain dangerous for the child’s future communication skills if they sought to teach it a language they themselves don’t master.
It would also do Virtanen no harm to note that the proportion of Swedish-speaking Finns who are proficient in Finnish is far, far higher than the proportion of Finnish-speaking Finns who are proficient in Swedish. She might also note that almost without exception, every Swedish-speaking Finn visiting an entirely Finnish-speaking place would seek service in Finnish (i.e. speak it in a shop etc), whereas Finnish-speaking Finns almost always speak Finnish wherever they are, even in places where Swedish is the absolute majority (or only) language.
Of course, I am sure Virtanen would say that those Finnish-speaking Finns who have, during the last decades, moved en masse to previously entirely Swedish-speaking areas should be ashamed for imposing their language on the local, native population? No, perhaps not. As, it seems to only be Swedish-speakers in Finland that are allowed to be disciminated against in the media without any action ever being taken. What absolutely is shameful is that this was broadcast on Yle and thus funded by the general public, Swedish-speaking Finns included.
This is the conclusion of sociologist Thomas Rosenberg from Lovisa on why some of the Finnish-speaking population are irritated by their Swedish-speaking compatriots.
His remarks come in the wake of the story of an 18-year old Swedish-speaking woman being assaulted at a restaurant in Åbo/Turku by a Finnish-speaking man because she was speaking Swedish.
According to Rosenberg, such a case is nothing new. “I don’t even know how many times I myself have been forced to flee from a pub because I was speaking Swedish – but it’s many”, he told the new Swedish-speaking youth website Peppar.fi. “During the 1970s and 1980s, the aggression against us Swedish-speaking Finns was strong, perhaps stronger even than today.”
Few researchers are prepared to – or dare to – comment on the subject of aggression towards Swedish-speakers by Finnish-speakers, reports Peppar.fi.
Thomas Rosenberg suggests that the reasons behind the increase in anti-Swedish feelings amongst Finnish-speakers may be down to the fact that there has been an increase in Finnish chauvinism in recent times at the same time as populism has grown. According to Rosenberg, this is partly because Europe has become more international and all the more immigrants have arrived. This has caused a kickback reaction. Rosenberg says that we know from the past that negative attitudes towards other cultures have always been strong in Finland, “we are a young nation. What we see now is a strong will to defend Finnishness. It is somewhat comic that this aggression is often directed towards us Swedish-speakers instead of towards immigrants”.
On being asked what Swedish-speakers can do to counteract this aggression, Rosenberg replied that “it is hard because the Finnish-speakers have a picture of us as being happy, positive and pleasant people. This image that they have created of us creates envy. We are not really freed from the stamp of being “bättre talande folket”* just because we are so damned happy and integrated and social competent and cocktail-knowledgeable and succeed so well. We appear to seem as governors of the poor Finnish-speakers in their image. That can be irritating for them. The stamp of us being the elite remains.”
Rosenberg suggests that Swedish-speakers lower their demands in order to improve relations. He suggests that a regional dimension is bought to the fore and suggests that we should abandon the concept of “forcing” people to learn Swedish throughout the entire country.
“I belong to the those that spoke in favour of abandoning compulsory Swedish language lessons in Finnish-speaking schools. We paid a high price for ‘compulsory Swedish’ because it was so unpopular. In the coastal areas [where the majority of Swedish-speakers live], people absolutely ought to study the minority’s language, but I think it is politically unwise to do this in the whole country. We should think in regional terms and restrict Swedish in Finland to the coastal areas – but there we ought to get stronger rights”
On being asked whether he was speaking about a ‘reserve’, Rosenberg answered yes. “Svenskfinland [Swedish-speaking Finland] is already a reserve to a great extent. We ought to reach a historic compromise and wind down the demand for a bilingual Finland and give up ‘compulsory Swedish’, just so long as we do not need to beg an apology for speaking Swedish in Svenskfinland.
Rosenberg hopes that reaching such a compromise would be possible. “Swedish is currently continually being undermined as an official language. There is just an long series of loses, and it is certainly the fault of politicians. We have too long lived with the belief that we have a good language law – but it reflects an early twentieth century reality that we no longer live in. I do believe that in the long run, the historically dependant prejudice based on us being ‘occupants’ will disappear. But we’re not there yet”.
* Svenskatalande bättre folk – “Swedish-speaking better people”. A common stereotype held of the Swedish-speaking Finns, usually with a derogatory meaning. Based on an untrue image that the Swedish-speakers are all rich and perhaps snobbishly assume that they are a ‘better people’ than the Finnish-speakers.
This article is based heavily on Peppar.fi’s article, which can be found here [SV]. Thus, any errors and the woodenness of the translation are entirely my fault!
The Swedish People’s Party has, against the predictions of many opinion polls, won a seat in the European Parliament. Carl Haglund, 30 years old and the current State Secretary for Culture Minister Stefan Wallin (SFP), topped the SFP vote and will take the party’s seat.
SFP won 6,1% of the national vote with over 101 000 votes, an increase of around 6 800 votes compared to 2004, an election in which the turnout was higher. SFP took the 13th seat of Finland’s 13 seats and came close to taking the 12th, in what must be considered a very good result for the party. The standing between SFP’s candidates was also close. The party ran 20 candidates with no designated main candidate. For the first time, Åland’s main candidate stood on the SFP list – a factor that was very much of help to SFP. SFP won almost 90% of the almost 10 000 votes cast on Åland.
The other established parties performed badly. The three biggest parties, Kokoomus (National Coaltion), Centre and the Social Democrats all lost one seat. The Left Alliance has fallen out of the EU parliament, losing its one seat. The Greens did well, winning an extra seat to take them to two MEPs.
The populist right-wing True Finns party, in a voting league with the Christian Democrats, saw party leader Timo Soini win the most personal votes of any candidate, 130 432.
Election results in full can be found on Yle’s website: http://yle.fi/val/resultat/2009/eu/index.html.
Pictured, SFP chairman Stefan Wallin and newly elected MEP Carl ‘Calle’ Haglund.
Finnish time (GMT plus 3)
20.00 Finland’s polling stations close. Results of votes from advanced voting announced. SFP predicted to lose its European parliament seat. Kokoomus, Centre party and SDP all to win 3 seats. That’s minus 1 for Kok and Centre.
20.04 Important to note that Swedish-speaking Finns and SFP voters in particular often leave voting until the actual election day.
20.28 11 of the 20 most active turnouts in Finland in Åland municipalities. Britt Lundberg effect?
20.30 Lundberg from Åland currently in 4th place amongst top SFP candidates.
20.31 40,9% of votes counted. Ca 54 000 votes for True Finns leader Timo Soini. Currently the most personal votes.
20.33 Leading SFP candidate is in 16th place currently (of 13 Finnish EU parliament seats), it is Björn Månsson.
20.39 SFP just now looks like it could hold a seat, Björn Månsson has moved up to 13 place. 44,2% votes counted.
20.40 Finlands Svenska Televisions hockey commentator Kaj Kunnas is charged with delivering the vote results in FST’s election results programme. Beginning to think that he should perhaps stick to sport!
20.47 Outgoing SFP-European parliament member Henrik Lax being interviewed on FST. Repeats that it is vital that Finland is seen and heard in both languages in Brussels. A good example in a Europe full of language minorities, but where few have the same level of rights as in Finland. Vital that Swedish-speakers in Finland can turn to someone in Brussels without the risk of being misunderstood.
20.48 Possibility that Left Alliance fall out of the European parliament. SFP overtake them at 46% of vote counted.
20.51 Soini (True Finns), Jääteenmäki (Centre, former PM), Mitro (SDP, orthodox priest), Itälä (Kokoomus, national coaltion party, former party leader) top 4 candidates in personal votes currently. Månsson and Haglund in 27 and 28 place.
20.55 Risto Penttilä of True Finns interviewed on FST in one of this year’s most pointless interviews, as he can barely string a sentence together in Swedish. Calls SFP a racist party.
20.57 SFP currently up 1,1% on the result from the last EU election in 2004 with 6,8%. 55% of votes counted.
21.02 Carl Haglund has passed Björn Månsson. 111 votes between them. With things just now, Haglund would be SFP’s representative in the EU parliament.
21.03 Social Democrats and especially Left Alliance both significantly back. Interesting in times of economic problems. All established parties backwards with exception with SFP. True Finns taken many votes off established parties. Christian Democrats also forward.
21.06 Stefan Wallin, chairman of SFP, being interviewed on SFP. Still cautious. Will see final results. Björn Månsson also interviewed. Stresses an SFP mandate is more important than who take its.
21.08 Many votes in Korsholm, Borgå, Sibbo, Raseborg not yet counted. Could possibly favour Månsson. Stefan Wallin would be surprised if SFP stayed on 6,8%. Expects figure to shrink during the night as more Finnish-speaking areas report their results. Wallin notes that if SFP wins a mandate, it will be a very very good result with regard to fact Finland has one less MEP seat and that last time SFP was in a voting alliance (this time it is alone).
21.09 Nils Torvalds and Bo Linde also close behind Haglund and Månsson in personal votes on SFP’s list.
21.10 Yle says SFP likely to take 12th mandate, which would be an excellent result.
21.15 Interview with Christian Democrats on FST. Chairman of Swedish-speaking district of Christian Democrats admits it was very difficult to explain to Swedish-speakers the Christian Democrat’s election alliance with the True Finns. The party chairman Päivi Räisänen explains it is just a technical alliance when asked what the two parties have in common.
21.18 Nils Torvalds has overtaken Björn Månsson in the SFP’s candidates popularity.
21.19 Swedish-speaking and bilingual municipalities amongst the municipalities with the highest turnouts. Almost all over 50%. National figure only barely 40%.
21.22 73% of total votes counted in Finland – current status: Kokoomus 3 seats, Centre 3 seats, SDP 3 seats, Greens 1 seat, True Finns 1 seat, SFP Swedish People’s Party 1 seat, Left Alliance 1 seat, Christian Democrats 1 seat.
21.28 Thirteenth and last seat would currently go to Annika Lapintie of Left Alliance who is from a bilingual home. Possibility of two Swedish-speaking Finns in European Parliament.
21.36 SDP could lose one seat and be down to 2 MEPs. 80,2% of total votes counted. All three major parties losing one seat just now.
21.39 Yle says seats 12-16 are still uncertain as so many votes are uncounted in especially Helsinki. SFP’s position is still not secure.
22.00 FST: Alexander Stubb (kok), foreign minister and candidate in the last election, says it is possible that some of his previous Swedish-speaking voters turned to SFP in this election. SFP chairman Stefan Wallin, alongside him, says that one must also note that Bjarne Kallis (Christian Democrat, former party leader) is also not standing this time. Another possible source of Swedish votes.
22.05 Voting in neighbouring Sweden has ended (at 21.00 Stockholm time). Sveriges Television predicts that the Pirate Party will win 7,4% of votes in Sweden’s election to the EU parliament.
22.06 Yle reports that Left Alliance will fall out of EU parliament and that instead the Greens will take a second seat in EU parliament. Greens strong in Helsinki, where there are still significant votes to be counted.
22.08 Timo Soini received 24 votes on Åland! Åland Centre party candidate Britt Lundberg, representing all of the non-socialist Åland parties and standing on SFP’s list, received 7690 of the 9960 votes on Åland. (Hufvudstadsbladet)
22.10 So close between candidates at back of list that it is possible a second count will be required to get the actual result.
22.17 Likely that SFP will fall to 13th place and take the last Finnish seat in the EU election. Greens will overtake the 12th. SFP’s position still not secure according to Yle, if SDP or Left Alliance has many votes amongst those uncounted in Helsinki.
22.22 SFP near to receiving 100 000 votes. An increase of nearly 5000 votes on the previous election despite a lower voting turnout. 97,7% votes counted in the whole country.
22.25 SDP chair Jutta Urpilainen says she is disappointed with the election result. SDP had a goal of keeping 3 seats, and are losing ones.
22.27 Carl Haglund being interviewed on telephone on FST. Cautious, will wait for full result before he comments result.
22.29 FST showing loud, party scenes at SFP Swedish People’s Party’s election results party. Crowd shouting ‘Calle, Calle’ Calle’. Carl ‘Calle’ Haglund has not yet arrived.
22.31 99,1% votes counted. On FST, Stefan Wallin says it feels good. Party secretary Ulla Achrén (SFP) thanks voters.
22.33 99,5% Haglund as good as certain to take 13th of Finland’s 13 MEP seats.
22.37 99,7% of votes counted. What seems to be the final result. Elected members to the European parliament (from Yle):
| 1. | Ville Itälä | Saml. | 65 830 | 384 826,000 | Åbo | vald | 65 439 |
| 2. | Anneli Jäätteenmäki | C | 79 931 | 316 337,000 | Helsingfors | vald | 149 646 |
| 3. | Mitro Repo | SDP | 71 419 | 290 838,000 | Helsingfors | vald | - |
| 4. | Timo Soini | Sannf. | 130 205 | 231 661,000 | Esbo | vald | - |
| 5. | Heidi Hautala | Gröna | 58 652 | 205 448,000 | Helsingfors | vald | - |
| 6. | Sirpa Pietikäinen | Saml. | 51 372 | 192 413,000 | Tavastehus | vald | 30 042 |
| 7. | Hannu Takkula | C | 39 288 | 158 168,500 | Rovaniemi | vald | 32 739 |
| 8. | Liisa Jaakonsaari | SDP | 45 258 | 145 419,000 | Uleåborg | vald | - |
| 9. | Eija-Riitta Korhola | Saml. | 51 086 | 128 275,333 | Helsingfors | vald | 35 285 |
| 10. | Sari Essayah | KD | 53 616 | 115 830,500 | Pemar | vald | - |
| 11. | Riikka Manner | C | 37 294 | 105 445,667 | Varkaus | vald | - |
| 12. | Satu Hassi | Gröna | 56 769 | 102 724,000 | Tammerfors | vald | 74 714 |
| 13. | Carl Haglund | SFP | 16 780 | 101 169,000 | Esbo | vald | - |
Overall, so far, Swedish People’s Party took 6,1% of the vote, receiving 101 203 votes. 40,3% of the electorate turned out.
22.43 That’s the end of this live blog from the results of the Finnish election to the EU parliament, in which a Swedish-speaking mandate was preserved. Carl Haglund will respresent the Swedish People’s Party SFP in Brussels during the next EU parliamentary period.
Image: YLE FST5 Election results programme. SFP candidate Björn Månsson being interviewed.
Elections to the EU parliament are underway with polling stations in Finland open until 20.00 this evening. The official result, however, will not be known until 22.00, as according to regulations, member states must wait until all polling accross the EU is over.
It remains to be seen as to whether SFP, the Swedish People’s Party, will manage to hang on to a seat in Brussels. Finland’s total number of MEPs has fallen one from 14 to 13, making it a tighter race. Opinion polls in the run up to election day gave mixed readings. However, opinion polls do generally underestimate SFP support as they most often conducted only in Finnish. Additionally, Swedish-speaking Finns tend to be more active voters in the real election, something that is not taken into account in opinion polls. In SFP’s favour in this EU election is that for the first time the most popular candidate on Åland (Britt Lundberg, a member of Åland’s Centre Party) is standing on SFP’s list. The votes of the Ålanders could be the critical factor in returning an SFP MEP. Another factor in SFP’s favour is that foreign minister Alexander Stubb (Kokoomus, National Coaltion party) was a candidate in the last EU election – it’s likely he won considerable numbers of Swedish-speakers’ votes, especially in the Helsinki area. They will now be looking for someone else to vote for. Should SFP succeed, it seems likely to be Carl Haglund (state secretary for Stefan Wallin) or Björn Månsson (until recently leader writer at Hufvudstadsbladet) who will take the seat. One thing is for sure, the only way to ensure one’s vote goes towards electing a Swedish-speaker is to vote for SFP.
Another interesting result will be to see how well Timo Soini and his True Finns do. It is not unthinkable that Soini could win the most personal votes in the country. This must be of considerable embarrasment to supporters of the Christian Democrats who are in a voting alliance for this election with the True Finns. Christian Democrat voters may well have stayed home in the realisation that a vote for a Christian Democrat will help the borderline racist True Finns. A somewhat unholy alliance.
Pictured: SFP’s EU parliament candidates
