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Published: 12 June 2009

Confirmed result. True Finns and Greens successful in the European Parliament elections 2009

The True Finns won one seat in the European Parliament and the party’s leader Timo Soini was the biggest winner with 130,715 votes cast. The next highest numbers of votes were cast for Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Centre Party (80,156) and Mitro Repo of the Social Democratic Party (71,829). This time Finland elected 13 representatives to the European Parliament instead of the earlier 14. Six of the elected representatives have no prior experience of the European Parliament.

Finnish Members of the European Parliament elected in the European Parliament elections 2009, votes cast for them, their party as well as their political group in the European Parliament

Menber Votes cast
for the elected
Member   		 Elected
member's
party in
Finland   		 Poltical Group
in the European
Parliament   
Soini Timo 130,715 True Finns ..
Jäätteenmäki Anneli   80,156 Centre Pty of Finland ALDE (ELDR)
Repo Mitro   71,829 Social Democratic Pty PES (PSE)
Itälä Ville   66,033 Coalition Pty EPP/ED (PPE–DE)
Hautala Heidi   58,926 Greens Greens/EFA (Verts/ALE)
Hassi Satu   57,032 Greens Greens/EFA (Verts/ALE)
Essayah Sari   53,803 Christian Democrats EPP/ED (PPE–DE)
Korhola Eija-Riitta   51,508 Coalition Pty EPP/ED (PPE–DE)
Pietikäinen Sirpa   51,493 Coalition Pty EPP/ED (PPE–DE)
Jaakonsaari Liisa   45,325 Social Democratic Pty PES (PSE)
Takkula Hannu   39,444 Centre Pty of Finland ALDE (ELDR)
Manner Riikka   37,330 Centre Pty of Finland ALDE (ELDR)
Haglund Carl   16,887 Swedish People's Pty ALDE (ELDR)

Votes cast for the largest parties and seats as well as change in the European Parliament elections 2009 and 2004

Party European
Parliament elec.
2009
votes   		 European
Parliament elec.
2004
votes   		 change    European
Parliament elec.
2009
places   		 European
Parliament elec.
2004
places   		 change   
Coaltion Pty 386,416 392,771     -6,355    3    4  -1
Centre Pty 316,798 387,217   -70,419    3    4  -1
Social Democr. Pty 292,051 350,525   -58,474    2    3  -1
Greens 206,439 172,844   +33,595    2    1 +1
True Finns 162,930     8,900 +154,030    1    0 +1
Swedish People's Pty 101,453   94,421     +7,032    1    1   0
Left Alliance   98,690 151,291    -52,601    0    1  -1
Christian Democrats   69,458   70,845      -1,387    1    0 +1

Support for the True Finns rose to 9.8 per cent, which is 9.2 percentage points higher than in the previous European Parliament elections. Compared with the previous European Parliament elections, support for the True Finns increased nearly in the whole country. The party won support especially in the strong support areas of the Social Democratic Party and in voting districts with high unemployment. Because of the electoral alliance of the two parties, the success of the True Finns yielded a seat in the European Parliament also for the Christian Democrats, even though their share of votes cast remained at 4.2 per cent. The Greens were the other winner of these elections, alongside the True Finns. Support for the Green League rose to 12.4 per cent, which is 2.0 percentage points higher than in the previous European Parliament elections. The party got two seats in the European Parliament.

The three major parties each lost one seat in the European Parliament. The National Coalition Party and the Centre Party both secured three seats. The Social Democrats were left with two seats. The National Coalition Party got the largest share of all votes cast, namely 23.2 per cent. Its share of votes cast fell by 0.5 percentage points from the previous European Parliament elections. The Centre Party got 19.0 per cent and the Social Democrats 17.5 per cent of all votes cast. Compared to the previous European Parliament elections, the Centre Party’s share of all votes cast fell by 4.3 percentage points and that of the Social Democrats by 3.6 percentage points. The Centre Party and the Social Democrats lost support especially in their own strong support areas. The Left Alliance got a 5.9 per cent share of the votes cast in the elections and its support fell by 3.2 percentage points from the previous European Parliament elections. The Left Alliance lost their one seat. Support for the Left Alliance decreased especially in the party's strong support areas. The Swedish People’s Party got a 6.1 per cent share of all the votes cast and managed to keep its one seat.

Share of votes cast for the major parties in elections for the European Parliament in 2009, 2004, 1999 and 1996

Party European
Parliament elec.
2009  		 European
Parliament elec.
2004   		 European
Parliament elec.
1999   		 European
Parliament elec.
1996   
National Coalition Pty 23.2 23.7 25.3 20.2
Centre Pty of Finland 19.0 23.4 21.3 24.4
Social Democr. Pty 17.5 21.2 17.9 21.5
GREENS 12.4 10.4 13.4   7.6
True Finns   9.8   0.5   0.8   0.7
Swedish People's Pty   6.1   5.7   6.8   5.8
LEFT   5.9   9.1   9.1 10.5
Christian Democrats   4.2   4.3   2.4   2.8

Voting turnout in these European Parliament elections was 40.3 per cent, which is 0.8 percentage points down from the 2004 European Parliament elections. Voting was liveliest in the Helsinki electoral district, where voting turnout rose to 50.7 per cent. Voting was least active in the North Karelia electoral district (33.7 per cent). Of individual municipalities, the country's highest voting turnout was in Kauniainen (68.4 per cent) and the lowest in Hyrynsalmi (25.5 per cent).

Parties who nominated candidates in the European Parliament elections and political groups in the European Parliament 2009

Abbreviation of
Finnish name
of party		 Name of party Abbreviation of the
political group*		 Name of the
political group
KOK National Coalition Party EPP/ED (PPE-DE) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
KESK Centre Party of Finland ALDE (ELDR) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2004 Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party)
SDP Social Democratic Party of Finland PES (PSE) Socialist Group in the European Parliament (2004 Group of the Party of European Socialists)
GREENS Green League Greens/EFA (Verts/ALE) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
RKP Swedish People's Party in Finland ALDE (ELDR) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2004 Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party)
PS True Finns .. ..
KD Christian Democrats in Finland EPP/ED (PPE-DE) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
LEFT - - -
SKP The Communist Party Of Finland - -
SSP Finnish Senior Citizens' Party (2004 EKA, Pensioners for the People) - -
IP Independence Party (2004 VSL, Independence Party League for Free Finland) - -
KA For the Poor - -
STP The Finnish Workers' Party (2004 VEV, Alternative Union) - -
- - UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Group
- - GUE/NGL Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left
- - IND/DEM Group Independence/Democracy Group

* The abbreviation of the name of the political group is derived of its English or French name (in 2004 abbreviation from the French name).

The new European Parliament convenes for the first time on 14 July 2009. The Members of the European Parliament elected in Finland will join the political groups of the European Parliament.


Source: European Parliament Elections 2009, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kimmo Moisio 09 1734 3239, Jaana Asikainen 09 1734 3506, vaalit@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 12.6.2009

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): European Parliament elections [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-291X. 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 25.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/euvaa/2009/euvaa_2009_2009-06-12_tie_001_en.html