Christian Democrats (Finland)


The Christian Democrats are a Christian-democratic political party in Finland. The Christian Democrats have five seats in the Finnish Parliament. The party was represented in the Finnish government by Minister of Interior Päivi Räsänen from 22 June 2011 until 29 May 2015.
The party was founded in 1958, chiefly by the Christian faction of the National Coalition Party, as the Finnish Christian League The party adopted its current name in 2001.

Ideology

The party describes itself as following the tenets of Christian democracy. It emphasizes "respect of human dignity, the importance of family and close communities, defending the weak, encouraging resourcefulness and individual and collective responsibility, not just for themselves but also for their neighbours and the rest of creation". Membership is open to everyone who agrees with these values and aims. The party also claims to be committed to environmental protection.
The party has lost many of its members to bigger centre-right parties after 1990s, mainly to the National Coalition and Centre Party. KD MP Lyly Rajala and MEP Eija-Riitta Korhola defected to the National Coalition in 2003, and the former party secretary Annika Kokko moved to the National Coalition in 2007.
English-speaking members of the party founded their own chapter in Helsinki in 2004. Its monthly meetings attract immigrants to participate in societal matters and the issues that are particularly important to them. In 2005, a Russian-speaking chapter was also founded in Helsinki.
The party is a member of the European People's Party.
KD-lehti is the party's weekly newspaper.

Politicians

List of party chairs

was the most recent MEP of the party; she was elected to the European Parliament in the 2009 election but failed to win re-election in 2014.

Election results

Parliament elections


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bar:% color:blue width:22 mark: align:left fontsize:S
bar:1958 from:start till:0.17 text:0,2
bar:1962
bar:1966 from:start till:0.45 text:0,5
bar:1970 from:start till:1.40 text:1,4
bar:1972 from:start till:2.53 text:2,5
bar:1975 from:start till:3.29 text:3,3
bar:1979 from:start till:4.77 text:4,8
bar:1983 from:start till:3.03 text:3,0
bar:1987 from:start till:2.58 text:2,6
bar:1991 from:start till:3.05 text:3,1
bar:1995 from:start till:2.96 text:3,0
bar:1999 from:start till:4.17 text:4,2
bar:2003 from:start till:5.34 text:5,3
bar:2007 from:start till:4.86 text:4,9
bar:2011 from:start till:4.03 text:4,0
bar:2015 from:start till:3.54 text:3,5
bar:2019 from:start till:3.90 text:3,9

YearMPsVotesShare of votes
19583,3580.17%
196610,6460.45%
197028,2281.40%
197265,2282.53%
197590,5993.29%
1979138,2444.77%
198390,4103.03%
198774,2092.58%
199183,1513.05%
199582,3112.96%
1999111,8354.17%
2003148,9875.34%
2007134,6434.86%
2011118,4534.03%
2015105,1343.54%
2019120,1443.90%

Local council elections

YearCouncillorsVotesShare of votes
197213449,8772.0%
197632285,7923.2%
1980333100,8003.7%
198425780,4553.0%
198827371,6142.72%
199235384,4813.2%
199635375,4943.2%
200044395,0094.3%
200439294,6664.0%
2008351106,6394.2%
201230093,2573.7%
2017316105,5514.1%

European parliamentary elections

Presidential elections