Centre Party (Finland)

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Template:Infobox Finnish Political Party

The Centre Party (Finnish: Suomen Keskusta) is a centrist political party in Finland. It is one of the three largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democrats (SDP) and the Coalition Party. Currently the Centre Party has the most seats, 55 out of 200, in the Finnish Parliament.

The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and subscribed to the liberal manifestos of these organisations. Its members in the European Parliament are member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. It gained initially an observer membership in Liberal International in 1983 after Liberal People's Party had joined it in 1982 as a member organisation. Liberal People's Party quit Centre Party in 1986, but Centre Party applied for full membership and got it in 1988.

However, it can be disputed whether it takes the position of a liberal party in the Finnish spectrum, as it is among the most conservative in many issues especially by the veteran politicians, as well as the most pro-CAP party being the old agrarian party. A Finnish aphorism states that "there is such a thing as extreme centre." According to its proponents, the party might still evolve into an undisputable liberal party, but the party most outspoken explicitly about liberalism represented in the Parliament of Finland is still the Swedish People's Party, whereas the conservative Coalition Party hosts also proponents of the free market. Additionally, the Green League is among the most liberal groups, as far as social liberalism is considered.

The party was founded in 1908 by Santeri Alkio and was then known as the Agrarian Party or Maalaisliitto. Nowadays the farmers have only a small portion of 5% of the votes given to the party and the Centre Party has the widest range in support when it comes to the professions. However, even today rural Finland and small towns are the strongest support area for the Centre Party, although it has been aiming toward a breakthrough in the big southern cities as well. The current Prime Minister of Finland is Matti Vanhanen, who succeeded Anneli Jäätteenmäki.

Although the party has an ideological background in the 19th century fennoman movement, the party is rather the direct continuation of the Estate of the Peasantry in the pre-1906 Diet of Finland.

1 Prominent party leaders
2 Party Chairmen since 1945
3 See also
4 External links

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Prominent party leaders

Lauri Kristian Relander, President 1925-1931
Kyösti Kallio, Prime Minister four times 1922-1937, President 1937-1940
Urho Kekkonen, Prime Minister twice 1950-1956, President 1956-1981
Martti Miettunen, Prime Minister twice 1961-1977
Ahti Karjalainen, Prime Minister

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Party Chairmen since 1945

Viljami Kalliokoski 1941-1945
Väinö Johannes Sukselainen 1946-1964
Johannes Virolainen 1965-1980 - Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament
Paavo Väyrynen 1980-1990 - Foreign Minister, Member of the European parliament
Esko Aho 1990-2000, 2001-2002 - Prime Minister 1991-1995
Anneli Jäätteenmäki 2000-2001, 2002-2003 - Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister 2003
Matti Vanhanen 2003 - Prime Minister