Swedish People's Party
The Swedish People's Party (Svenska folkpartiet (SFP) in Swedish, Ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP) in Finnish) is a political party in Finland. It was founded by Axel Lille in 1906, making it one of oldest parties in Finland. The leader of the party is Jan-Erik Enestam. In the Parliament of Finland the representative for Åland is usually included in SFP's party-group, regardless of his/her party affiliation. (The political parties in Åland have no counterparts in mainland Finland, but SFP's interests are very similar to those of Åland.)
The party receives its main electoral support from the Swedish speaking minority, which makes up about 5.6%[1] of Finland's and Åland's population. Despite its position as one of the minor political parties in the Finnish parliament it has frequently been one of the partners forming the governing coalition cabinets. SFP has not been in opposition since 1976 -- a remarkable achievement for a such a small party.
The Swedish language enjoys a privileged position as one of the two official languages of Finland. The SFP has as its main raison d'être the protection and strengthening of the position of Swedish in Finland.
The Swedish People's Party has the most eclectic profile of any of the political parties in Finland, its members and supporters including (chiefly):
- fishermen and farmers from the Swedish-speaking coastal areas,
- small-town dwellers from the adjacent Swedish-speaking towns,
- green-minded and left-leaning middle-class intellectuals and cultural elite, and
- rightist-inclined economic liberals from Helsinki.
Although SFP represents a small minority of Finland, Swedish mother tongue per se is not much of a political handicap. Several times Swedish speaking president candidates have gathered considerable support, although not neccessarily as candidates for the Swedish People's Party:
- In 1931 the Finland-Swedish Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, candidate for the Conservative Party got one elector's vote more than his opponent ex-president Ståhlberg.
- In 1956 the Finland-Swedish Social Democrat Fagerholm got one elector's vote less than needed to be elected, and the Agrarian Urho Kekkonen was elected.
- In 1994 the SFP-candidate Elisabeth Rehn lost to the un-political Martti Ahtisaari, also by a narrow margin (53.9% to 46.1%).
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