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Left Alliance (Finland)

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Left Alliance
Vasemmistoliitto (Finnish)
Vänsterförbundet (Swedish)
AbbreviationFinnish: Vas
Swedish: VF
ChairpersonMinja Koskela
SecretaryAnna Mäkipää [fi][1]
General SecretaryLaura Koskinen
Parliamentary group leaderAino-Kaisa Pekonen
First deputy chairVeronika Honkasalo
Chair of the party councilMiikka Kortelainen [fi]
FounderClaes Andersson
Founded29 April 1990 (1990-04-29)
Merger of
HeadquartersLintulahdenkatu 10, 00500 Helsinki
NewspaperKansan Uutiset
Think tankVasemmistofoorumi [fi]
Student wingVasemmisto-opiskelijat [fi]
Youth wingLeft Youth
Women's wingVasemmistonaiset [fi][2]
Children's wingPinskut [fi]
Membership (2020)Increase 11,500[3]
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing
European affiliationEuropean Left Alliance
for the People and the Planet
Now the People ![4]
European Parliament groupThe Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
Nordic affiliationNordic Green Left Alliance
Colours  Pink
Eduskunta
11 / 200
European Parliament
3 / 15
Municipalities
508 / 8,859
County seats
100 / 1,379
Website
vasemmisto.fi

The Left Alliance (Finnish: Vasemmistoliitto [ˈʋɑsemːistoliːtːo], Vas; Swedish: Vänsterförbundet, VF) is a socialist political party in Finland.[5]

The Left Alliance was founded in 1990 as the chief successor of the left-wing Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL). Although not as electorally successful as the SKDL, it has achieved some success, typically receiving around eight to ten percent of the vote in parliamentary elections. It has participated in five cabinets, most recently in the Marin Cabinet from 2019 to 2023. It is socialist,[6][7] specifically democratically socialist,[8] and it supports the principles of eco-socialism.[9][10]

The Left Alliance is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance. The party’s newspaper is the monthly Kansan Uutiset. It had two ministerial positions in the Finnish Government led by Sanna Marin, Li Andersson as the Minister of Education[11] and Hanna Sarkkinen as the Minister of Social Affairs and Health.[12]

History

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The Left Alliance was founded by the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL), the majority of members of the waning Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Finnish Women's Democratic League (SNDL). It was later joined by the communist Democratic Alternative. The founding meeting was held in April 1990 in Helsinki, following the publishing of the April Declaration, which stated the party's ideals.

The party's history has been characterised by internal disputes and bickering, as it was formed via people with very different views on society. There have been several defections from the Left Alliance to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the newly formed Communist Party of Finland. In 2005, the party's former secretary and Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions's assistant head Matti Viialainen formed a group to promote a merger between the two largest Finnish left-wing political parties, the Left Alliance and the SDP. This caused an outrage within the Left Alliance, and Viialainen was condemned for wanting to break up the party. Viialainen subsequently left the party and ran for parliament on the SDP ticket in 2007.[13]

In 2006, the party's leader Suvi-Anne Siimes announced her resignation from the post and the party as a result of long-standing feuds with the leftist section of the party. On 13 May 2006, Martti Korhonen was elected as the new party leader. He was followed by Paavo Arhinmäki in June 2009, following the party's bad performance in the 2009 EU parliamentary election, in which the party lost its only seat.

In the 2011 election, the party won 14 seats and became a partner in the six-party "rainbow" cabinet led by Jyrki Katainen. The decision to join the government created a split in the party, leading to the expulsion of two MPs from the parliamentary group. In 2014, the Left Alliance left the cabinet over a dispute on a package of spending cuts and tax hikes.[14] In 2014 European Parliament election, the party regained their lost seat.

In the 2015 parliamentary election, the party received 211,615 votes, 7.1% of the total, and won 12 seats in the parliament.[15] In April 2016, Arhinmäki announced that he wouldn't seek another term as the party leader.[16] On 11 June 2016, Arhinmäki was succeeded by Li Andersson.[17] Under the leadership of Andersson, the party gained support in the 2017 municipal elections and the 2019 parliamentary election; in the latter, the party increased its representation in the parliament for the first time since 1995.[18][19]

In the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the Left Alliance suffered its worst defeat ever, losing five seats; this lead to the party only getting 11 MPs into the Finnish Parliament.[20] However, in the next year's European Parliament elections, the Left Alliance finished a surprising second, ahead of the Social Democrats, and elected three MEPs, including party leader Li Andersson.[21] Prior to the election, polls had shown the party to be in fourth place.[22] Andersson herself received the most votes of any Finnish politician in European election history.[23]

On 19 October 2024, Andersson was succeeded by Minja Koskela.[24]

Ideology and policies

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Members of the Left Alliance at Helsinki Pride in 2016

According to the Left Alliance's party programme, adopted by the 5th Party Congress on 16 June 2007, the fundamental values of the Left Alliance are equality, freedom, sustainable development, and democracy. The party believes that globally, democracy must be strengthened, and that democracy should be stronger than the power of capital, challenging global capitalism. Important values also include global solidarity, stopping political polarisation in Finland, freedom and the right to work, and environmentalism.[25] The party is for equality in all its forms and identifies strongly as feminist, anti-racist and is in support of economic democracy. The party supports introducing a universal basic income[26] and prioritizes supporting the weakest members of society.

The Left Alliance wants the European Union to be more socially just.[25] The party endorses the European Green Deal via changing the European Central Bank’s finance-sector’s quantitative easing stimulus into a green stimulus to mitigate global warming and create green-collar jobs.[25][27]

The party has traditionally been one of Finland’s staunch opposers of membership in NATO.[28] After Finland considered an accession bid to NATO in May 2022, the party was in doubt whether to officially support an eventual NATO membership but assured that it would stay in the Finnish Government in the case it would make one.[29] During its annual party congress in June 2022, the Left Alliance adapted its party program and now only demands an eventual NATO membership to remain defensive, with no permanent NATO military bases or nuclear weapons within the country.[28] It also demanded the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to be taken off the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations.[30][31][32][33]

Organization

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Logos

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  • Logo of the Left Alliance in 1996.
    Logo of the Left Alliance in 1996.
  • Former logo of the Left Alliance.
    Former logo of the Left Alliance.
  • Logo of the Left Alliance in 2010–2018.
    Logo of the Left Alliance in 2010–2018.
  • Logo of the Left Alliance since 2018.
    Logo of the Left Alliance since 2018.

Chairpersons

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Election results

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Parliamentary elections

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Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
1991 274,639 10.08
19 / 200
 New Opposition
1995 310,340 11.16
22 / 200
 Increase 3 Coalition
1999 291,675 10.88
20 / 200
 Decrease 2 Coalition
2003 277,152 9.93
19 / 200
 Decrease 1 Opposition
2007 244,296 8.82
17 / 200
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2011 238,437 8.15
14 / 200
 Decrease 3 Coalition (2011–2014)
Opposition (2014–2015)
2015 211,702 7.13
12 / 200
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2019 251,808 8.20
16 / 200
 Increase 4 Coalition
2023 218,340 7.06
11 / 200
 Decrease 5 Opposition

Municipal elections

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Election Councillors Votes %
1992 1,319 310,757 11.67
1996 1,128 246,597 10.37
2000 1,027 219,671 9.88
2004 987 228,358 9.56
2008 833 224,170 8.78
2012 640 199,312 8.0
2017 658 226,626 8.8
2021 508 194,385 7.9

European Parliament

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Election Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
1996 236,490 10.51 (#4)
2 / 16
 New The Left
1999 112,757 9.08 (#5)
1 / 16
 Decrease 1
2004 151,291 9.13 (#5)
1 / 14
 Steady 0
2009 98,690 5.93 (#7)
0 / 13
 Decrease 1 –
2014 160,818 9.32 (#6)
1 / 13
 Increase 1 The Left
2019 125,749 6.89 (#6)
1 / 13
 Steady 0
2024 316,859 17.32 (#2)
3 / 15
 Increase 2

Presidential elections

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Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round Result
Votes % Votes %
1994 Claes Andersson 122,820 3.8 (#6) Lost
2000 None Lost
2006 Supported Tarja Halonen 1,397,030 46,31 (#1) 1,630,980 51,79 (#1) Won
2012 Paavo Arhinmäki 167,359 5.5 (#6) Lost
2018 Merja Kyllönen 89,977 3.0 (#7) Lost
2024 Li Andersson 158,328 4.88 (#5) Lost

Elected members of parliament

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The following politicians were elected to the Finnish Parliament in the April 2023 parliamentary election.

References

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  1. ^ "Anna Mäkipää vasemmistoliiton puoluesihteeriksi". Vasemmisto.fi. Left Alliance. 3 December 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  2. ^ "The Left Women in Finland". Vasemmistonaiset.fi. The Left Women in Finland. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  3. ^ Puhakka, Sami (3 May 2020). "Vasemmistoliiton vahvuus on erilaisten ihmisten yhteistyössä". Kansan Uutiset. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Now the People".
  5. ^
  6. ^ Matthews-Ferrero, Daniel; Päri, Jasmin; Steenland, Robert (2019-05-10). "EU country briefing: Finland". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  7. ^ "Why Basic Income Failed in Finland". jacobin.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  8. ^ "Populism Report" (PDF). Foundation for European Progressive Studies. September 2017.
  9. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Finland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Left Alliance Party Program 2007" (PDF). Vasemmisto. 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Minister of Education". Valtioneuvosto. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  12. ^ "Minister of Social Affairs and Health". Valtioneuvosto. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Viialainen Matti - Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue - Eduskuntavaalit 2007 - HS.fi" (in Finnish). .vaalikone.fi. 31 August 2007. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  14. ^ HT (26 March 2014). "Left Alliance leaves government". www.helsinkitimes.fi.
  15. ^ "Koko maa - puolueiden kannatus". Yle uutiset. Yleisradio. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  16. ^ "Puheenjohtajuuden jättävä Arhinmäki Ylellä: Enemmän aikaa perheelle". Iltalehti. 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  17. ^ "Li Andersson kruunattiin virallisesti puheenjohtajaksi". Iltalehti. 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
  18. ^ "Front Page". tulospalvelu.vaalit.fi. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  19. ^ "Front Page". tulospalvelu.vaalit.fi. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  20. ^ Ahponen, Tatu (6 April 2023). "Sanna Marin's Government Failed Because It Wasn't Ambitious Enough". Jacobin. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  21. ^ "In Finland, the Left Alliance Just Trounced the Far Right". jacobin.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  22. ^ "Ylen eurovaalimittaus: Vihreät menettämässä kaksi meppipaikkaa ja RKP ainoansa – perussuomalaiset vahvistunut". Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  23. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (2024-06-11). "Leftwing Nordic nations provide 'ray of hope' in Europe". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  24. ^ Kinnunen, Pekka; Auvinen, Pirjo (19 October 2024). "Left Alliance chooses Minja Koskela as new leader". Yle News.
  25. ^ a b c "Tavoitteet". Vasemmistoliitto (in Finnish). Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  26. ^ "Where Next for Finland's Welfare State?". Jacobin. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  27. ^ "Vasemmisto puhuu ekologisesta jälleenrakennuksesta, mutta mistä siinä on kyse – Hanna Sarkkinen vastaa". Kansan Uutiset (in Finnish). 2019-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  28. ^ a b "Left Alliance calls for decriminalisation of drug use, NCP would allow snus sales". News. 2022-06-12. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  29. ^ Vanttinen, Pekka (2022-05-10). "Finnish Left Alliance to stay in government regardless of NATO application". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  30. ^ "Viisi nostoa vasemmistoliiton puoluekokouksesta – paljon hyvää ja muutamia avoimia kysymyksiä". Kansan Uutiset (in Finnish). 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  31. ^ "Nato | Vasemmistoliitto luopui kielteisestä Nato-kannastaan, esittää myös PKK:n poistamista EU:n terroristijärjestöjen listalta". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2022-06-12. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  32. ^ "Coalition partner in Finland calls for removal of PKK from terrorist list". Medya News. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  33. ^ "Finnland: Linksbündnis fordert Streichung der PKK von Terrorliste". Firat News (in German). Retrieved 2022-06-14.
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