Christian Democrats (Finland)

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Christian Democrats




Name in Finnish	Kristillisdemokraatit
Name in Swedish	Kristdemokraterna
Leader	Päivi Räsänen

Founded	1958
Headquarters	Karjalankatu 2 C 7 krs. FIN - 00520 HELSINKI

Political Ideology	Christian Democracy, Conservatism
Political Position	Centre-right
European Affiliation	European Christian Political Movement
International Affiliation	Christian Democrat and People's Parties International
Colours	Blue, Orange

Website	http://www.kristillisdemokraatit.fi

See also	Finnish Politics Finnish Parliament Finnish Government Finnish President Political parties Elections

The Christian Democrats (Kristillisdemokraatit or Kristdemokraterna) is a political party in Finland. The party was founded in 1958, chiefly from the Christian faction of the conservative National Coalition Party. The name was initially Finnish Christian League (Suomen Kristillinen Liitto or Finlands Kristliga Förbund) but it was changed in 2001.

The Christian Democrats have a tendency of forming alliances with other parties during elections and their success in elections is mainly determined by their success in these alliances. Their own voter base is stable and loyal, totaling around 5% of the votes.

1 Ideology
2 Elections results
3 Politicians
- 3.1 List of party chairs
- 3.2 Current members of parliament
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Ideology

The Christian Democrats is a conservative right-of-centre party. However, in many social issues (like poverty and family issues) the party is nearer to the left-of-centre views.

Ideologically the Christian Democrats represent the Christian world view in politics in Finland. The party emphasizes the Christian faith as the basis of all political work, family as the center of the society, and responsible freedom. The party opposes e.g. gay marriages, abortion, euthanasia and divorce. The Christian Democrats promote e.g. human dignity, social equality, and jusitice in political questions.

[edit] Elections results

[edit] Parliament elections

Year	MPs	Votes	Share of votes
1958	0	3 358	0,17%
1966	0	10 646	0,45%
1970	1	28 228	1,40%
1972	4	65 228	2,53%
1975	9	90 599	3,29%
1979	9	138 244	4,77%
1983	3	90 410	3,03%
1987	5	74 209	2,58%
1991	8	83 151	3,05%
1995	7	82 311	2,96%
1999	10	111 835	4,17%
2003	7	148 987	5,34%

[edit] Local council elections

Year	Councillors	Votes	Share of votes
1972	134	49 877	2,0%
1976	322	85 792	3,2%
1980	333	100 800	3,7%
1984	257	80 455	3,0%
1988	273	71 614	2,72%
1992	353	84 481	3,2%
1996	353	75 494	3,2%
2000	443	95 009	4,3%
2004	392	94 666	4,0%