Ich komme aus einem Land, in dem traditionell zwei oder drei Parteien um die Macht konkurrieren und die Wahlkarte eine klare Trennung zwischen den beiden Seiten zeigt. Warum ist dies in Finnland trotz der großen schwedischen Minderheit nicht der Fall?
https://i.redd.it/wfxbx4db48kg1.jpeg
Von last_splendour
20 Kommentare
how is it diverse? it’s basic European political diversity no?
Why not? And what large Swedish minority? The Swedish speakers are finns.
D’hondt system instead of simple majority vote guarantees your vote isn’t wasted, even if your representative doesn’t get in it benefits the party you voted
It really isnt tho
Basically all the parties are just a bit different flavor of socdem with little variation on big issues.
it’s diverse because it’s not based on first past the post/an electoral college system. also this is standard in continental europe.
Centre Party used to be big in North Finland. However True Finns took their place 2011.
Like many European countries Finland uses a proportional representation system, which reduces the impact/necessity of tactical voting and allows for more than 2-3 party systems.
It’s called democracy
We usually have majority governments, i.e. the government has 101 or more of the 200 places in parliament. To reach such numbers, several parties need to work together to form a government, so there is no use doing like they do in the US and say the other party is their mortal enemy.
I like it this way, it’s less polarisation. And it is not uncommon at all for Europe to have several parties.
https://preview.redd.it/q93vuasi58kg1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=ebd65a02989c1840d677b159d123148b775b7823
Most definitely not. A map of Germany as an example.
Below a dump of maps from Wikimedia from the last general elections of several countries. Note that I did this very quick and carelessly, so it may not be equivalent to the Finnish map, but hopefully it illustrates the point.
Germany:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_German_federal_election#/media/File:Erststimmenmehrheiten_Bundestagswahl_2021.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_German_federal_election#/media/File:Erststimmenmehrheiten_Bundestagswahl_2021.svg)
Italy:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2022_Italian_general_election#/media/File:2022_Italian_general_election_-_Chamber_of_Deputies_-_Single-member_constituencies_-_Candidates.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2022_Italian_general_election#/media/File:2022_Italian_general_election_-_Chamber_of_Deputies_-_Single-member_constituencies_-_Candidates.svg)
Spain:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Spanish_general_election#/media/File:2023_Spanish_election_-_Results.svg/2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Spanish_general_election#/media/File:2023_Spanish_election_-_Results.svg/2)
Netherlands:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Dutch_general_election#/media/File:Tweede_Kamerverkiezingen_2023_map.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Dutch_general_election#/media/File:Tweede_Kamerverkiezingen_2023_map.svg)
What sort of clear division are you looking for? Regardless, the division is rather clear in Finland too, if you understand what you’re looking at. Centre party and the Finns are generally most popular in rural areas, and the Swedish People’s Party (SFP) is popular where most of the Swedish speaking Finns live. The rest’s popularity focuses more into and around bigger cities. All of this is shown on the map.
The politics is diverse because the people are diverse, and we have multiple options to choose from.
Which country do you come from, or if you don’t want to answer that, what electoral system does your country use? If it’s a plurality or „first past the post“ system (used in the UK, US and elsewhere), two parties will always dominate, because voting for a third party is often a „wasted vote.“ Finland and most other European countries use proportional systems; if a party gets, say, 20% of votes, they’ll get *roughly* 20% of seats in parliament etc. (roughly because there is no perfect system). I’m glad to live in a country with lots of parties; that’s how it should be, so that people are more likely to find a party that aligns with their views instead of having to simply pick the lesser of two evils.
Social democrats for cities, centre for country sides, national coalition for the rich and would be rich and Helsinki. The racist party for the racists. Oh, and of course they vote for the „swedish speakers are more important“ on the western coast.
* Do you think it’s reasonable that all the political ideas in the world are distilled into two parties, as in your country?
* Do you think that is healthy for debate? For opposing opinions? For intellectual discourse?
* Has your country favored from politics being divided into two real choices? Have you ever felt that politics become a matter of Team A versus Team B? Or that people choose their party first, and adapt their opinions on topics according to what their party says.
* Do you think democracy should start from the grassroots, with ideas and concepts that are important to the people – or should democracy be decided by a poltical oligarchy with two parties deciding what topics are allowed to matter?
These are not criticism by the way, they are honest questions I want you to think about when you try to understand another poltical system.
it looks diverse bc all parties are basically the same so people can vote whatever and nothing changes
Luck? I would not consider the average Finnish voter very conscientious compared to any other EU country. In the Nordics there is this interesting phenomenon of [agrarian parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_agrarian_parties) which is difficult for me to grasp. Parliamentary systems tend to degenerate into (almost) two-party systems, so I am not sure what keeps that substantial amount of Keskusta voters from moving to more polarized parties. Inter-provincial variation among constituencies varies also very much; exceptions exist in any country (the odd socialist industrial city in the middle of a rural area etc), but in Finland those are surprisingly common.
This is pretty awesome because there are these strong, inherent social checks and balances (ie Finnish society is eventually forced to sit the fuck down and talk), but since these are not in the law these may blow up. And obviously these checks and balances make things move slow, but hey if someone likes things moving quick you can always move somewhere under an authoritarian regime, there’s plenty these days! But please don’t be shocked if one of those swift changes gets you or your beloved ones in jail, it’s all for the good of that society <3
Because Finland is a true democratic republic instead of „just one or two less parties away from a one-party dictatorship“.
USA for example is just one party less than now and it would look like current Russia. And sadly that seems to be what Trump tries and wants to achieve.
We have a coalition government, proportional representation. So if Center Party gets 15% of the votes, SDP gets 20%, NCP gets 20%, left gets 10%, and so on, they can have that mane % of the seats in the government, they have to make a coalition so that the government has a bunch of different parties that have to make compromises among each other. And it has to have 50%+ representation, so at least 50% of Finns who voted, voted for one of those parties and the rest goes into the opposition. It helps with stability usually, sure it also makes progress more difficult but that also includes change towards any goal, ones we do like but also ones we really don’t. Kind of an anti fascism, anti centering power to few individuals measure, makes democracy harder to dismantle. Not impossible, but harder. It also makes strategical voting matter less, which helps smaller parties keep their support and get into the government sometimes through being part of a coalition with a larger party.
There are two misunderstandings in most comments. First of all, Finland is definitely an anomaly, in that *constituency majority parties* tend to be much fewer; in Finland, I see at least 6 parties with a majority in at least two constituencies. So yes, there is something very special (possibly not unique) about Finland. The second one, OP at no point implies they would prefer a two-party system. I do not understand why people get so jumpy.
Am I only one who finds it ironic that the Center (Keskusta) and the Green (Vihreät) are so close to each other color wise, while they are often the political nemeses?