Progressive answers to populism in Finland

Abstract

During the last decades, the Finnish political system had been dominated by the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party, and the National Coalition party. In the parliamentary election of 2015, this habitual political triangle was shaken by the one and only genuinely populist political party, the Finns Party. The party received 17.7% of the votes, making it the second largest party in the Finnish multiparty system. The Finns Party entered into the government in coalition with the Centre Party and the National Coalition party. This new role induced many changes in the Finns Party tactics. Their participation in the government also created platform for a more radical right-wing inside the party, and finally the party split during the summer 2017. This division created two populist parties, one with even more far-right orientation, but also with less support. In the latest polls the support for rightwing populism in Finland has fallen to 10 percent. The other consequence of the split resulted in a new type of Finns Party, which resembles to right-wing populist parties in Sweden (Sweden Democrats) and in Germany (Alternative for Germany).