Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose

The Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose
Liberaalipuolue – Vapaus valita
Swedish name Liberalpartiet – Frihet att välja
Chairman Juhani Kähärä
Vice chairman Tuomas Tiainen[1]
Founded 2015 (2015)
Headquarters Hämeentie 153 B, 00560 Helsinki, Finland[2]
Ideology Liberalism
Website
liberaalipuolue.fi

The Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose (Finnish: Liberaalipuolue – Vapaus valita), formerly known as the Whisky Party (Finnish: Kansallinen Viskipuolue,[3] Swedish: Whiskypartiet[4]), is a liberal Finnish political party, founded in 2015 and admitted to the registry of political parties in 2016. The party's chairman is Juhani Kähärä. He and other members of the party ran in the 2015 parliamentary election as candidates on the list of the Pirate Party, before Liberal Party had been registered.

Platform

The party is known for its liberal take on alcohol policies, but claims a liberal platform overall.[5] The platform of the party is to promote individual freedom, entrepreneurship, and decision making based on scientific research. The party opposes the power of interest groups in politics.[6] The party aims in its political agenda to decrease prohibitive restrictions, such as limitations to opening hours of restaurants and strict licensing on taxis.[7] Tax reductions are also on the agenda.[8]

History

Logo of the Whisky Party.

The impetus for founding the Whiskey Party was a 2014 event dubbed the "Whiskeygate" by the media. A beer and spirits convention was banned from using the name Olut & Viski Expo (Beer & Whiskey Expo) by the authorities, because the name was interpreted as being advertising of spirits prohibited by the law. A party was to be founded in protest to what was perceived as overbearing regulation.[9]

Whiskey Party was founded the next year, in 2015. Just before the 2015 parliamentary election, the then not registered party promoted itself by handing out free portions of Whiskey.[10][11] The party also published a campaigning song: "Vastuullisesti" (Responsibly).[12]

The party's chairman Juhani Kähärä and other members ran in the 2015 parliamentary election as candidates on the list of the Pirate Party, before Whiskey Party had been registered.[13][14]

After the election, the party continued the practice of publicly serving free whiskey to attract signatures for support cards in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, and Oulu.[15]

By early February 2016, the party had secured the 5,000 signed support cards needed for registration.[6] On 11 February, it submitted its application to the Ministry of Justice that maintains the political party registry.[16] The party was officially registered on 18 March 2016.[17]

Soon after the party had gained enough signatures for registration, it was announced that there will be an election about the official name of the party.[13] On 14 May 2016, the party adopted a new name: Liberaalipuolue (Liberal Party).[18] Finnish patent and registration office however did not accept the change, due to existence of similarly named associations:[19] Suomen Liberaalinen Puolue ry (Liberal Party of Finland, registered association) and Liberaalit ry (Liberals, registered association).[20]

On 17 June 2016, the party tried to adopt a new name again: The Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose. The name was accepted by the Finnish patent and registration office on 21 June, as the addition to the name was enough to separate it from other associations.[21]

The Liberal Party participated in the municipal elections in 2017 in major cities and allowed as candidates anybody regardless of political experience.[22][23] The party won 4,117 votes and elected 5 councilors. The Liberal Party also seeks to establish regional chapters.[1]

Electoral performance

Municipal elections

Year Elected Votes Share
2017 5 4,117 0.2%

References

  1. 1 2 Tamminen, Jenni (18 March 2016). "Suomeen syntyi uusi puolue: 'Emme aja kenenkään etuja – luovutaan sairaalloisesta byrokratiasta'" [A new party in Finland: "We do not promote anybody's interests – let's get rid of sickening bureaucracy"]. Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "List of Registered Parties". Vaalit.fi. Ministry of Justice. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Kansallinen Viskipuolue merkitty puoluerekisteriin" [National Whiskey Party registered] (in Finnish). Ministry of Justice. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
  4. ↑ "Whiskypartiet nära registrering" [Whiskey Party near registration]. Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  5. ↑ Pietiläinen, Jari (18 March 2016). "Viskipuolue merkittiin puoluerekisteriin – Nimenmuutos heti edessä" [Whiskey Party registered – About to change name immediately]. Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 Pape-Mustonen, Terhi (18 March 2016). "Kansallinen viskipuolue rekisteröitiin: ei aja kenenkään etua" [National Whiskey Party registered: will not promote the interest of any particular group]. Maaseudun Tulevaisuus (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Suomeen on syntymässä uusi puolue – viskipuolueella koossa 5 000 kannattajakorttia" [Finland to have a new political party – Whiskey Party has 5,000 support cards]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  8. ↑ "Ilmaista viinaa jakanut puolue aikoo haastaa nykymenon – vaihtaa myös nimeä" [Party that handed out free alcohol wants to challenge status quo – will also change its name]. Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). 18 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Setälä, Jasu (17 May 2016). "Liberaalien pitkä tie puoluerekisteriin" [Liberals' long way to be registered as a party]. Libero (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  10. ↑ Pietiläinen, Jari (7 January 2016). "Puoluerekisteriin himoitsee nyt moni poppoo – Viskipuolue pääsee pian pelikentille" [Many groups desire to be registered – Whiskey Party to be out on the field soon]. Länsiväylä. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Puolue jakoi ilmaista viinaa puistossa Helsingissä" [Political party hands out free alcohol at a park in Helsinki] (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  12. ↑ Latvala, Jussi (18 March 2016). "Kansallinen Viskipuolue puoluerekisteriin – 'Suomen tulevaisuus näyttää todella huolestuttavalta'" [National Whiskey Party registered – "The future of Finland is very concerning"] (in Finnish). YleX. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Viskipuolue sai 5300 kannattajakorttia kokoon" [Whiskey Party gathers 5,300 support cards]. Turun Sanomat (in Finnish). STT. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  14. ↑ Lehto, Oskari (10 April 2016). "Mitä Viskipuolue oikein haluaa? Yrittäjä kertoo taustat ja tavoitteet" [What does the Whiskey Party want? Entrepreneur tells about the background and goals of the party]. Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Viskipuolue tarjosi ilmaista viskiä Oulussa – poliisilla ei huomauttamista" [Whiskey Party served free whiskey in Oulu – the police have no complaints]. Kaleva (in Finnish). 21 November 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Thursday's papers: Children's home abuse, Whiskey Party starting, less sex for Finns". Yle. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  17. ↑ Blencowe, Annette (18 March 2016). "Viskipuolue merkittiin puoluerekisteriin" [Whiskey Party was registed into the register of parties] (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  18. ↑ Suvi Hautanen (2016-05-16). "Viskipuolue vaihtaa nimensä Liberaalipuolueeksi" [Whiskey Party changes its name to Liberal Party]. Verkkouutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  19. ↑ "Viskipuolue jatkaakin viskipuolueena – epäonnistunutta nimenmuutosta juhlistetaan viskillä" [Whiskey Party to remain Whiskey Party after all publisher – failed renaming celebrated with whiskey] (in Finnish). Yle. 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  20. ↑ "Viskipuolueen nimenvaihto meni puihin" [Name change of Whiskey Party on the rocks]. Kaleva (in Finnish). STT. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "Viskipuolue muuttaa nimensä sittenkin – "Sanaan liberaali ei voi saada yksinoikeutta"" (in Finnish). Yle. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Viskipuolueen Kähärä: 'Sääntely minimiin ja Alkon monopoli alas'" [Kärhä of Whiskey Party: "Regulation to the minimum and down with the monopoly of Alko"]. Keskisuomalainen. 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  23. ↑ "'Emme aja kenenkään etuja' – Suomessa on nyt yksi puolue lisää" ["We do not promote anybody's interests" – Finland now has one more political party]. Demokraatti (in Finnish). 18 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.

Further reading

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