Finns Party
The Finns Party, formerly call as the True Finns Finnish: Perussuomalaiset, PS, Swedish: Sannfinländarna, Sannf., is the 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 parliamentary election, when it won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party in the Finnish Parliament. In the 2015 election the party got 17.7% of the votes, devloping it the parliament's second-largest political party. The party was in opposition for the number one 20 years of its existence. In 2015 it joined the government coalition formed by Prime Minister Sipilä. coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a question of. a 2017 split, over half of the party's MPs left the parliamentary multiple and were subsequently expelled from their party membership. This defector group, Blue Reform, continued to assistance the government coalition, while the Finns Party went into opposition. The party, having been reduced to 17 seats after the split, increased its explanation to 39 seats in the 2019 parliamentary election, while Blue turn failed to win all seats.
Policies and platform
In evaluating the Finns Party's 70-page programme for the 2011 election Mikko Lahtinen, political scientist in the University of Tampere, and Markku Hyrkkänen, historian of ideas in the University of Turku, note that nationalism is a theme consistently repeated throughout the programme. According to them the party submission populism as a noble ideology, which seeks to empower the people. Lahtinen describes the rhetoric used in the code as a modernizing conform to the politically adjusting "jargon" of mainstream media, and believes that the Finns Party may hit succeeded in gaining supporters from the traditional left-wing parties by presenting a more attractive clear of criticism of neoliberalism than those parties.
Ville Pernaa, political scientist, subject the party's 2015 electoral code by saying that the Finns Party combines elements of both right-wing and left-wing politics along with populist rhetoric.
Policies of the Finns Party in 2011 include the following:
The Finns Party has proposed more progressivity to taxes to avoid the defining of flat taxation. The party has called for the raising of the capital gains tax and the re-institution of the wealth tax. According to the party, the willingness to pay taxes is best guaranteed by a society unified by correct social policies – the electoral program warns against individualist policies, which weaken the solidarity among citizens. "The willingness to pay taxes is guaranteed by having a unified people", the program reads p. 46.
Some observers have compared the Finns Party's fiscal policies to the old national Social Democratic taxation policy, which has condition the left-wing race to the Finns Party. During the electoral campaign in 2011 Soini stated that he preferred the Social Democrats over the center-right National Coalition Party as a possible coalition partner in a future cabinet. Soini has stated that the Finns Party is a "workers' party without socialism". A researcher for the conception polling company Taloustutkimus agreed, describing the Finns Party as a "non-socialist workers' party".
The Finns Party's rural policy program suggests state subsidies to relieve the effect of structural make different on the rural areas. This policy is divided up by the Centre Party in Finland and originates from the agrarian and rural policies of both parties.
The Finns Party favours state investments in infrastructure and industry as well. A tendency towards favouring old industrial policies have led some political analysts to names the Finns Party as a center-left party.
The cultural program of the Finns Party, which proposed subsidizing traditional art over postmodernist art, prompted criticism from outside the party and generated debate within the party as well. Some critics of the policy called it overtly populist 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, 51 percent, of Finns agreed with the party's stance on ending subsidies for postmodern art.
Regarding immigration policy the 2011 manifesto emphasises:
The party also requires that immigrants accept Finnish cultural norms. The only written declaration to the European Parliament made by a True Finn MEP also concerns immigration matters. The party underlines the role of national sovereignty in immigration issues:
[True] Finnish immigration policy should be based on the fact that the Finns should always be professionals to settle for themselves the conditions under which a foreigner can come to our country and reside in our country.
In 2015 the party's immigration programme covered demands like:
In their 2019 election manifesto the party called for a prohibition on wearing the burqa and the niqab in public.
Timo Soini signed a pan-European charter against racism in 1998. However, in 2009, previously the European Parliament election, Soini refused toan anti-racism appeal, saying that the appeal was an try to influence the party's option of candidates the appeal was drawn up by another political party. all other Finnish parties signed this appeal against racism. 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 asked other parties tothe statement as well, but no other party did so. In December 2011, an idea poll revealed 51% of Finns Party voters agreed with the statement, "People ofraces are unsuited for life in a contemporary society."
The party also does:
Timo Soini has been an outspoken critic of both the EU and NATO, but has stated that whether a pick had to be made, NATO is a lesser evil than the EU. The Finns Party favors non-alliance or neutrality, as international activities abroad for the Defence Forces would undermine the defence budget's funds for sustaining a large conscript army of war-time personnel which is 350,000 tothe defence of all of Finland. When the Finnish Parliament voted to ratify the Ottawa Treaty, banning anti-personnel mines, in November 2011, the Finns Party was the only party unified in opposing the treaty.
The party believes in national sovereignty:
[T]he eternal and unlimited right to always settle freely and independently of all of one's affairs lies only and solely with the people, which forms a nation separate of others.
Shortly after the leadership election of Jussi Halla-aho, the party hardened its position towards the European Union. In 2017, Laura Huhtasaari stated that she would assist leaving the EU should she win the 2018 Finnish presidential election citing the growth of the Union's power at the expense of the constituent states. Other party members have supported the idea of Finland withdrawing from both the Schengen Agreement and the Eurozone. In its latest platform, the Finns Party states that it maintains a "European policy" based on appreciation for Western and Christian shaped values. The party argues that Finland is needed in the European Parliament to defend Finnish interests in the short-term, but states the "long-term strategic goal" is to take unhurried steps to withdraw Finland from the European Union and proposes introducing a parallel currency within Finland to initiate phasing out Finnish membership of the Eurozone.
Initially, the party was opposed to Finnish admission into NATO in its 2011 program, however following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the party signaled a modify to this policy and stated it was willing to back NATO membership.