1968 Finnish presidential election

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1968. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college.[1] They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won on the first ballot.[2] The turnout for the popular vote was 70.2.[3]

1968 Finnish presidential election

15.–16 January 1968
 
Nominee Urho Kekkonen Matti Virkkunen
Party Centre National Coalition
Electoral vote 201 66
Popular vote 1,221,078 482,693

 
Nominee Veikko Vennamo
Party Rural Party
Electoral vote 33
Popular vote 231,959

President before election

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Elected President

Urho Kekkonen
Centre

Kekkonen's two opponents, the centre-right National Coalition Party's candidate Director of the National Commercial Bank Matti Virkkunen and the populist Finnish Rural Party's leader Veikko Vennamo, criticized him for governing Finland in a too autocratic way.

Vennamo in particular accused Kekkonen of pursuing a too dependent and servile foreign policy towards the Soviet Union. Since almost thirty per cent of the eligible Finnish voters abstained from voting, there was some underlying discontent with the presidential candidates, or Kekkonen's wide lead over his two opponents. Notably, the National Coalitioners and Ruralists - both opposition parties at the time - gained clearly higher percentages of the popular vote than in the 1966 Finnish parliamentary elections. This foreshadowed their major gains in the 1970 Finnish parliamentary elections. Although during this presidential campaign, Kekkonen promised not to run for president again (see, for example, Timo Vihavainen, "The Welfare Finland" (Hyvinvointi-Suomi), pp. 859–861 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., A Small Giant of the Finnish History / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen. Helsinki: WSOY, 2003; Pentti Virrankoski, A History of Finland / Suomen historia, volumes 1&2. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), 2009, p. 961; Martti Häikiö, The Election of President / Presidentin valinta, p. 96. Porvoo: WSOY, 1993; What-Where-When: A Citizen's Yearbook (Mitä-Missä-Milloin - Kansalaisen vuosikirja) 1969, p. 140. Helsinki: Otava Ltd., 1968), however, he extended his presidential term in 1973 and ran nearly unopposed in 1978.

Results

Alliance or party Votes % Seats
Electoral Union of Urho KekkonenCentre Party421,19720.765
Finnish People's Democratic League345,60917.056
Social Democratic Party315,06815.555
Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders46,8332.36
Swedish People's Party2,5680.10
Independents21,4251.11
Electoral Union of Matti VirkkunenNational Coalition Party432,01421.258
Independents6,7870.32
Electoral Union of Veikko Vennamo231,28211.333
Electoral Union of SFPSupporters of Urho Kekkonen68,3783.49
Supporters of Matti Virkkunen43,8922.26
Supporters of Veikko Vennamo6770.00
Electoral Union of LKP102,8315.09
Others310.00
Invalid/blank votes10,410
Total2,049,002100300
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college

Candidate Party Votes %
Urho KekkonenCentre Party20167.0
Matti VirkkunenNational Coalition Party6622.0
Veikko VennamoFinnish Rural Party3311.0
Total300100
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p. 630
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p. 624
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