Constitutional Right Party

The Constitutional Right Party (Finnish: Perustuslaillinen Oikeistopuolue, Swedish: Konstitutionella högerpartiet) was a conservative anticommunist political party in Finland. The party was founded in 1973 by the parliamentarian Georg C. Ehrnrooth as a right-wing split from the Swedish People's Party (SFP). The party had around 4,000 members.^[1] Until 1980 the party was known as the Constitutional People's Party (Finnish: Perustuslaillinen Kansanpuolue, Swedish: Konstitutionella Folkpartiet). The party was founded as a response to SFP and the only major right-wing party, National Coalition, backing the re-election of President Urho Kekkonen by emergency law, simply for convenience and despite the lack of any national emergency. Ehrnrooth saw this as a sign of Finlandization, and held that the constitution was being circumvented and the people left out of the process.

The party contested the 1975 parliament election, obtaining 1.6% of the national vote and winning one seat. In the 1979 parliament election the party won 1.2% of the votes but no seat.^[1] The most seats the party ever held were two (1973–75 and 1986–87), although in both cases, one seat was gained by a defection.

At the Finnish presidential election, 1978, the party supported Ahti Salonen, a social democrat critical of Kekkonen and SDP's support of Kekkonen. At the 1982 election, however, the party supported Mauno Koivisto, in order to ensure Ahti Karjalainen, whom they regarded as too Soviet-friendly, would not succeed as a 'dark horse'.

Leaders

Chairmen

• Ilpo Järvinen 1973–1974^[2]
• Georg C. Ehrnrooth 1974–1992^[2][3]
• Erkki Enberg 1992–1993^[3]
• Tapio Väisänen 1993–?^[4]

Party secretaries

• Peter Kankkonen
• Panu Toivonen 1982–1990^[5][6]
• Ulla Bogdanoff 1990–?^[5]

Vice chairmen

• Kullervo Rainio 1978–1980^[7]
• Markku Pietikäinen (1.) 1986–?^[8]
• Tuula Heiman (2.) 1986–?^[8]
• Matti Järviharju 1988–?^[5]
• Pentti Taavitsainen 1990–?^[5]

Elections

References