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The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.
The party achieved its electoral breakthrough in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, when it won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party in the Parliament of Finland.Yle Uutiset: General Elections 2011 in Finland – Result by party
In the 2015 election the party got 17.7% of the votes, making it the parliament's second-largest political party. The party was in opposition for the first 20 years of its existence. In 2015, it joined the coalition government formed by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.
Following a 2017 split, over half of the party's MPs left the parliamentary group and were subsequently expelled from their membership in the party. This defector group, Blue Reform, continued to support the government coalition, while the Finns Party went into opposition. The party, having been reduced to 17 seats after the split, increased its representation to 39 seats in the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, while Blue Reform failed to win any seats.
During the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the Finns Party finished in second place with 46 seats, recording their strongest result since its founding. They then, out of Petteri Orpo's request, proceeded to form a coalition government with the winning National Coalition Party, the Christian Democrats and Swedish People's Party of Finland. The party currently holds seven of nineteen ministerial portfolios in the Orpo Cabinet.
In the 1970s, Vennamo's personalized leadership style alienated some in the party, which led to a split in the parliamentary group in 1972. After the Rural Party's new rise in 1983 under Vennamo's son Pekka, the party became a partner in two coalition governments. However, the party's support declined steadily in the late-1980s and early-1990s. In 1995, the party won only one seat in the Finnish parliament and soon filed for bankruptcy.
It took some time before the Finns Party gained ground in Finnish elections. At the time of its founding in 1995, the party's sole MP was Vistbacka, who was reelected in the 1999 election. In 2003, the party won three seats: besides Vistbacka, Soini and Tony Halme were elected. In the 2007, the party gained two further seats for a total of five. In the 2008 municipal election, the Finns Party were most successful in those districts where the Social Democrats and the Left Alliance lost most. Party analysis – the Finns Party won the day. Statistics Finland In the 2011 election, the Centre Party suffered the largest blow from the Finns Party's success.
According to a 2008–2009 study, Finns Party supporters viewed themselves as Centrism: on a scale where 1 was extreme left and 10 was extreme right, the average supporter placed themselves at 5.4. According to the same study, the supporters were united by patriotism and social conservatism. A 2011 study indicated that the Finns Party was the most popular party among voters with an annual income of 35,000–50,000 , while over a quarter of the party's voters earn over 50,000 per year.[4] The same study also indicated that the party's voters included a higher percentage of blue-collar workers than those of the Social Democrats.
After the election, the National Coalition Party (NCP) began negotiations aiming to form a cabinet between the NCP, the Social Democrats, and the Finns Party. However, when it became clear that the NCP and the Social Democrats would continue to support EU bailouts, which the Finns Party vehemently opposed during the electoral campaign, the party voluntarily broke from the negotiations to become the leading opposition party. Soini said that the party would not compromise its core principles just to enter the government. According to an opinion poll, most of the party's supporters accepted this decision.
The Finns Party's popularity initially continued to rise after the 2011 election: in one opinion poll from June 2011 gave the party a record popularity of 23 percent. The party's membership rose to over 8,000 members by 2013 (up from circa 5,500 in 2011 and circa 1,000 in 2005). Membership in the party's youth organisation rose as well, going from 800 before the 2011 election[6] to over 2,200 in 2013.
The party nominated Soini as its candidate for the 2012 presidential election; Soini finished fourth with 9.4 percent.[7] Soini interpreted the result by saying that half of the party's voters wanted him for president, while the other half wanted to him to remain as party chair. In municipal elections later in 2012, the party got 12.3 percent of votes and 1,195 seats in the municipal councils, up more than 750 from the previous municipal election. However, this result saw the votes for the party shrink significantly from the 2011 parliamentary election result. The party got 12.9 percent of votes in the 2014 European Parliament election and increased its number of MEPs to two.
In the 2015 election, the Finns Party got 17.7% of the votes and 38 seats. This meant that they were the third largest party by votes but the second largest party by seats. The Finns Party subsequently entered into a coalition government with the Centre Party and the NCP, led by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä. The party's participation in the Sipilä Cabinet marked a softening of its Euroscepticism positions. On 22 June 2016, Finns Party MP Maria Tolppanen joined the Social Democrats, after which the Finns Party had 37 seats in the parliament. In March 2017, Soini announced that he would step down as party chair in the next party congress in June. Soini announces he will not continue at Finns Party helm Yle News on 5 March 2017. Retrieved on 12 March 2017.
Following the split, MPs Veera Ruoho and Arja Juvonen left the Finns Party parliamentary group to continue as independents, after which the party's seats were reduced to fifteen. Tällainen on Uusi vaihtoehto – Nämä kansanedustajat jättivät perussuomalaiset Yle 13 June 2017 Perussuomalaisten Arja Juvonen: ”En kuulu mihinkään ryhmään” Ilta-Sanomat 13 June 2017 All of the defecting MPs were subsequently expelled from the Finns Party. In the following weeks, MPs Ritva Elomaa and Arja Juvonen regretted their decision and re-joined the party, raising the amount of MPs to seventeen. Kansanedustaja Arja Juvonen palaa perussuomalaisten eduskuntaryhmään Ilta-Sanomat 27 June 2017
The party nominated MP Laura Huhtasaari as its candidate for the 2018 presidential election. In the election, Huhtasaari placed third with 6.9 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term with a majority of votes.
On 21 June 2021, Jussi Halla-aho announced that he would retire from his position as a party leader in August 2021. He was succeeded by MP Riikka Purra on 14 August.
Since 2020, further minor splits have emerged within the party, forming the Power Belongs to the People party and Blue-and-Black Movement.
During the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election the party finished in second place ahead of the Social Democrats with 20% of the vote and 46 seats, marking the strongest result to date for the party.
In April 2023, National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo announced his attention to form a governing coalition with the Finns Party, Swedish People's Party, and the Christian Democrats.
In the Orpo Cabinet, the Finns have seven ministers out of 19. Former party leader Jussi Halla-aho was elected Speaker of the Parliament of Finland.
Ville Pernaa, political scientist, described the party's 2015 electoral program by stating that the Finns combine elements of both right-wing and left-wing politics along with populist rhetoric. Tutkija: perussuomalaiset käyvät vaalitaistoon jytkyn raunioilta kuin ameebat, YLE 10 April 2015, accessed 10 April 2015.
Some observers compared the Finns Party's fiscal policies to the old national Social Democratic taxation policy, which has given the left-wing brand to the Finns Party. During the electoral campaign in 2011 Soini stated that he preferred the Social Democrats over the centre-right National Coalition Party as a possible coalition partner in a future cabinet. Soini has stated that the Finns are a "workers' party without socialism". A researcher for the opinion polling company Taloustutkimus agreed, describing the Finns Party as a "non-socialist workers' party".
The party's programme on rural policy also called for state support for rural regions, particularly agriculture, suggesting state subsidies to relieve the effect of structural changes on the rural areas. This policy is shared by the Centre Party in Finland and originates from the agrarian and rural policies of both parties.
The Finns Party favours increasing state investments in infrastructure and industry as well. A tendency towards favouring old industrial policies have led some political analysts to label the Finns Party as a centre-left party.
The party strongly supports the peat industry, which produces massive amounts of , having even proposed exempting this production from any tax. The party generally scores best in municipalities whose economies are tied to this industry. The party has strongly denounced the Paris Agreement, signed in December 2015, saying it was "catastrophic" for the economy, and demanded that the private sector and taxpayers be spared its "disastrous economic consequences".
The party supports teaching "healthy national pride" in schools, "because the unity of citizens is the basis of society", and wants to promote support for cultural activities that "promote Finnish identity".
The party also calls for the removal of the obligatory character of the Finland Swedish (Swedish in Finnish-language schools and vice versa) in curriculums on all levels of education, freeing up time for the learning of other foreign languages such as English, German, French, Spanish and Russian (especially in the eastern part of the country). Allowance regarding the use of the Swedish language and its teaching will have to be made for those municipalities where Swedish-speakers are in the majority or a large percentage of the population – Swedish is one of Finland's national languages.
The cultural program of the Finns Party, which proposed subsidizing traditional art over postmodern art, prompted criticism from outside the party and generated debate within the party as well. Some critics of the policy called it overtly populist[20] or said that the state should not interfere with the content of art. A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat at the time of the controversy found that a majority of Finns, 51%, agreed with the party's stance on ending Subsidy for postmodern art.
The party also requires that immigrants accept Finnish Social norm. The only written declaration to the European Parliament made by a True Finns' MEP also concerns immigration matters. The party underlines the role of national sovereignty in immigration issues:
In 2015, the party's immigration programme included demands like lowering the refugee quota, tightening the conditions of family unification, ending affirmative action, outlawing begging in public places, opposing the use of public funds to advance multiculturalism, opposition to the planned burden-sharing mechanisms of the Common European Asylum Policy, making sure that immigrants living on welfare benefits are not concentrated in the same areas and only allowing the immigration of workers from outside the EU and EEA if they are found to be necessary in a given field in a means test by the Finnish Labour Office. Näin perussuomalaiset linjaa maahanmuuttoa, Iltalehti 24 April 2015, accessed 30 April 2015. The Finns Party's immigration programme, 2015, accessed 30 April 2015
In their 2019 election manifesto, the party called for a prohibition on wearing the burqa and the niqāb in public. Perussuomalaisilta kova maahanmuutto-ohjelma: burkat, niqabit ja pienten tyttöjen huivit kiellettävä, Iltalehti, 22 February 2019, accessed 4 March 2019
Timo Soini signed a pan-European charter against racism in 1998. However, in 2009, before the European Parliament election, Soini refused to sign an anti-racism appeal, saying that the appeal was an attempt to influence the party's choice of candidates (the appeal was drawn up by another political party). All other Finnish parties signed this appeal against racism. True Finns renounce racism, discrimination, and favouritism: MP Hakkarainen reprimanded for intemperate remarks Helsingin Sanomat In May 2011, following controversies surrounding the remarks of the Finns Party's MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, the Finns Party's parliamentary group issued a statement condemning all racism and discrimination, including affirmative action. The party invited other parties to sign the statement as well, but no other party did so. In December 2011, an opinion poll revealed 51% of Finns Party voters agreed with the statement, "Joihinkin rotuihin kuuluvat ihmiset eivät kerta kaikkiaan sovi asumaan moderniin yhteiskuntaan;" "People of certain races are unable to live within (fit into) a modern society."
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The party believes in Nation state:
In 2023, Halla-aho reiterated that the party's long-term goal is strategic preparation for a "Fixit" (Finnish exit) from the European Union and Eurozone, highlighting what he described as a "democratic deficit" within the EU while Foreign Trade Minister Ville Tavio stated the party will vote against joint-EU debt policies in government. However, the party leadership stated that it also wished to strengthen European unity and cooperation in the meantime in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Initially, the party was opposed to Finnish admission into NATO in its 2011 program. However, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the party signaled a change to this policy and stated it was willing to back NATO membership.
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The party chairpersonship is divided between four persons, elected at party congress biannually. Riikka Purra is the party's current chair. The first deputy chair is Leena Meri, the second deputy chair is Mauri Peltokangas and the third deputy chair is Sebastian Tynkkynen. Sebastian Tynkkynen kampesi Juho Eerolan 3. varapuheenjohtajan paikalta, YLE 8 August, accessed 9 August.
Another foundation, Suomen Perusta ("The Foundation of Finland"), was set up in 2012. Its role is to function as a think tank for the party.
In 2011, MP Pentti Oinonen declined an invitation to the presidential Independence Day ball, citing his aversion to seeing same-sex couples dance.
Jussi Halla-aho, the previous leader of the party, a former MEP and now the Speaker of the House wrote that Somalis were genetically predisposed to rob passersby, wrote that he would be happy if a gang of immigrants raped a Green League MP, and commented "Violence is an underrated problem-solving tool these days," while pondering if he should shoot a gay man. A number of senior Finns Party politicians, including Halla-aho and Immonen, are also Suomen Sisu members, an organization that Länsiväylä describes as a Nazism group. (2025). 9789522641809, Into Kustannus. ISBN 9789522641809 The website of Suomen Sisu has promoted books by Nazis and neo-Nazis such as Alfred Rosenberg, George Lincoln Rockwell and David Duke.Koivulaakso & Brunila & Andersson 2012, s. 81.
There have also been Finns Party candidates who are members of Blood & Honour. Finns Party councillor Risto Helin was photographed wearing a Blood & Honour shirt and he donated Adolf Hitler paraphernalia to an affiliated skinhead club in Vaasa.
In a judgement given on 8 June 2012, MP Jussi Halla-aho, then Chairperson of the Administration Committee was found guilty by the Supreme Court of both disturbing religious worship and ethnic agitation for statements he made about Muhammad in his blog. KKO tuomitsi Halla-ahon myös kiihottamisesta kansanryhmää vastaan , Helsingin Sanomat, 8 June 2012
In October 2013, it was reported that MP James Hirvisaari, had invited far-right activist Seppo Lehto as his guest to the parliament. During his visit, Lehto made several , including at least one instance where Hirvisaari took a photo of Lehto performing the Nazi salute from the spectator gallery overlooking the Parliament House's Session Hall. Photos and videos of Lehto performing the Nazi salute in the Parliament House were then distributed on Lehto's public Facebook page and on YouTube. After newspapers broke news of the incident, Speaker of the Parliament Eero Heinäluoma issued a notice of censure to Hirvisaari for the incident and the Finns Party leadership unanimously decided to expel Hirvisaari from the party, citing multiple cases of acting against the party's interest.
Hirvisaari then became affiliated with the Change 2011 party as the party's MP, until he was unseated in the parliamentary election of 2015.
The party's Ruovesi municipal chapter's official postal address had Nazi flags hanging in the windows in 2019. The chapter chairperson denied that the flags were his.
Finns Party politicians have frequently supported anti-Muslim movements such as the Finnish Defense League, Soldiers of Odin, Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), Rajat Kiinni (Close the Borders), and Suomi Ensin (Finland First). An anti-mosque demonstration was supported by the youth branch of the PS, whose chair, Jarmo Keto, said that, "Islam as an ideology is responsible for many conflicts and terror attacks. Thus such a mosque project is an irresponsible idea".
Members of the Finns Party have attracted criticism from the other parties and Anti-fascism for attending events organized by or with the NRM. Two municipal-level politicians of the Finns Party have taken part in an event where the participants shot and threw knives at , using photos of members of the Rinne Cabinet.
The Finns Party's parliamentary group's general secretary, Olli Immonen, attended an NRM event commemorating Eugen Schauman, who assassinated Nikolay Bobrikov. Some members of the party have been fired from as a result of contacts with the far-right. Immonen has also multiple times shared a blog criticizing the "Holocaust denial".
In 2020, the party sacked the youth wing's vice leader Toni Jalonen for declaring himself a fascist at a conference in Estonia. The party additionally cut financial support to its youth wing, so it was declared bankrupt as a result. A new organization called Perussuomalainen nuoriso in Finnish was founded with new personnel to replace it.
NRM and other far-right activists attend an annual torch march demonstration in Helsinki on the Finnish independence day which ends at the Hietaniemi cemetery where members visit the tomb of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and the monument to the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS. According to B'nai B'rith's report, "The main organizers and guests of the event have been drawn from either non-party-affiliated far-right-activists or members of the right-wing populist Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset), its youth organization Finns Party Youth (Perussuomalaiset Nuoret)".
Finns Party MP Vilhelm Junnila spoke at an event organized in memory of victims of a terrorist attack in 2019. His participation in the event was criticised in the media due to the event being organized by the NRM and Soldiers of Odin. The matter was especially brought up in the media after the formation of the Orpo Cabinet in 2023, where he was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs. Junnila survived a vote of no-confidence, but announced his resignation from the cabinet afterwards. He was replaced by Wille Rydman, who gained attention for his multiple Nazism-related controversies after his appointment.
Viljam Nyman, a Finns Party Lapland area board member became a leader of the Atomwaffen Division's Finnish chapter and a prominent adherent to the satanic Order of Nine Angles (ONA). Nyman's associate, a Finns party member born in 1980 and a fellow accelerationism and ONA adherent had dozens of his writings published by the official Finns party organ, Suomen Uutiset. Both were suspected of planning murders and terrorist attacks, and Nyman has been subsequently convicted of terror offenses. The person born in 1980 is also suspected of sending a string of to the Social Democratic, Green League and Left Alliance parties' offices.
A Finns Party Espoo city council member Jiri Keronen told that he "avows" the teachings of ONA and that he is republishing their works.
On 9 May 2024, the Finns Party council expelled Timo Vornanen alongside Teuvo Hakkarainen from the party, because of the police suspecting that Timo Vornanen pointed at a group of people with a gun and then shot the ground after an argument on the 26 April in the Kamppi subdivision of Helsinki, outside a bar. After the shooting incident, Vornanen has been on sick leave from the parliament.
He announced on May 14 that he'd give up his parliamentary committee seats to the rest of the Finns Party to decide on replacements. He also posted on Facebook that he would leave the Joensuu city council's Finns Party council group and create his own city council and parliamentary groups.
Former MEP Teuvo Hakkarainen, on the other hand, was expelled from the party because he stood as a candidate for the European Parliament on the Freedom Alliance's list. He claims that he did this because the Finns Party's leadership had "left the field" and adopted a mentality of kicking people out if they even slightly questioned the party's leadership or criticised their actions.
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