The Christian Democrats (CD; ; , KD) is a

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party in Finland. It was founded in May 1958, chiefly by the Christian faction of the

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland. Founded in 1918, the ...

. It entered parliament in 1970. The party leader since 28 August 2015 has been Sari Essayah. The Christian Democrats have five seats in the Finnish Parliament. It is positioned on the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

on the political spectrum. The party name was for a long time abbreviated to SKL (standing for , , ''Finland's Christian League''), until 2001, when the party changed its name to the current ''Christian Democrats'' and its Finnish and Swedish abbreviations to ''KD''. The CD was a

minor party A minor party is a political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller, even insignificant in comparison) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections. The difference between minor and major parties can be so great t ...

in the

coalition government led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Esko Aho between 1991 and 1994 and was later a part of a rainbow coalition led by Jyrki Katainen and

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. Rising in politics as a researcher specialis ...

between 2011–2015. It has been a part of the Orpo Cabinet since its formation on 20 June 2023. ''KD-lehti'' is the party's weekly newspaper. The party is a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

and the

European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

History

When the Christian Democrats was founded in 1958, as the name ''Finnish Christian League'', the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

-dominated

Finnish People's Democratic League Finnish People's Democratic League (, SKDL; , DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due ...

was polling about 25 per cent and became the largest parliamentary grouping. That, together with lax alcohol laws, salacious publications and assistance from the Norwegian KrF, sparked the Christian initiative.Freston P., (2004) Protestant Political Parties Aldershot (Ashgate), pp.42 The 1960s were an 'incubation period', but there was a growing conviction of the need for parliamentary seats in the wake of liberal legislation. At the 'earthquake election' of 1970, after four years of a popular front government, the CD only had Raino Westerholm elected. Westerholm was a party chair between 1973 and 1982. Westerholm polled a creditable 8.8 per cent at the 1978 presidential election. The modest 'Westerholm effect' was a backlash for long-serving

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

, who was backed by all of the larger parties.Arter, D. (2009) Scandinavian Politics Today Manchester (Manchester University Press), pp.126-128 The party was a junior coalition partner in government from 1991 to 1995, when it occupied the development aid portfolio. It was a soft Eurosceptic party and stressed the importance of the principle of subsidiarity in European affairs. After being renamed to "The Christian Democrats" in 2001, it moved to a

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

stance. Bjarne Kallis, the party chairman between 1995 and 2004, was instrumental in the party's change of name and concern to attract a wider electorate, being able to draw votes from the Swedish People's Party and Finnish-speaking

and

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

voters. At the 2003 general election, the Christian Democrats polled its highest vote of 5.3%.Arter, D. (2006), ''Democracy in Scandinavia'', Manchester University Press, p.187 English-speaking members of the party founded their own chapter in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 2004. Its monthly meetings attract immigrants to participate in societal matters and the issues that are particularly important to them. In 2005, a Russian-speaking chapter was also founded in Helsinki, Finland.

Ideology

The party describes itself as following the tenets of

Christian democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

. It has been described by third-party sources as

. It emphasizes "respect of human dignity, the importance of family and close communities, defending the weak, encouraging resourcefulness and individual and collective responsibility, not just for themselves but also for their neighbours and the rest of God's creations". Membership is open to everyone who agrees with their values and aims. The party also claims to be committed to protecting the environment. It is also orientated towards

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

policies.

Organization

Finnish Christian League parliamentary election campaign 1972

Leadership

Party chairs

* Olavi Päivänsalo (1958–1964) * Ahti Tele (1964–1967) * Eino Sares (1967–1970) * Olavi Majlander (1970–1973) * Raino Westerholm (1973–1982) * Esko Almgren (1982–1989) * Toimi Kankaanniemi (1989–1995) * Bjarne Kallis (1995–2004) * Päivi Räsänen (2004–2015) * Sari Essayah (2015–present)

First deputy chairs

* Raino Westerholm (1971–1973) * Ilmari Helimäki (1973–1982) * Olavi Ronkainen (1982–1985) * Marjatta Laakko (1985–1989) * Juhani Peltonen (1989–1991) * Leea Hiltunen (1991–2003) * Marja-Leena Kemppainen (2003–2005) * Peter Östman (2005–2009) * Sari Palm (2009–2011) * Teuvo V. Riikonen (2011–2013) * Sauli Ahvenjärvi (2013–2015) * Tommy Björkskog (2015–2017) * Tiina Tuomela (2017–2019) * Peter Östman (2019–2023) * Mika Poutala (2023–present)

Party secretaries

* 1958–1959: S. N. Venho * 1959–1965: Paavo Luostarinen * 1965–1978: Eino Pinomaa * 1979–1982: Esko Almgren * 1982–1996: Jouko Jääskeläinen * 1997–2002: Milla Kalliomaa * 2003: Eija-Riitta Korhola * 2003–2007: Annika Kokko * 2007–2009: Sari Essayah * 2009–2011: Peter Östman * 2011–2021: Asmo Maanselkä * 2022–2023: Elsi Juupaluoma * 2024– Mikko Rekimies

Representatives

Current members of parliament

* Sari Essayah (Savo-Karjala constituency) * Mika Poutala (Uusimaa constituency) * Päivi Räsänen (Häme constituency) * Sari Tanus (Pirkanmaa constituency) * Peter Östman (Vaasa constituency)

Members of the European Parliament

Sari Essayah was the most recent MEP of the party; she was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in the 2009 election but failed to win re-election in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Affiliated organisations

* Christian Democratic Youth of Finland ( ) * Christian Democratic Women of Finland ( ) * ''KD-Lehti'' * Ajatushautomo Kompassi

Election results

Parliamentary elections

ImageSize = width:600 height:240 PlotArea = width:500 height:160 left:50 bottom:60 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:blue width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1958 from:start till:0.17 text:0,2 bar:1962 bar:1966 from:start till:0.45 text:0,5 bar:1970 from:start till:1.40 text:1,4 bar:1972 from:start till:2.53 text:2,5 bar:1975 from:start till:3.29 text:3,3 bar:1979 from:start till:4.77 text:4,8 bar:1983 from:start till:3.03 text:3,0 bar:1987 from:start till:2.58 text:2,6 bar:1991 from:start till:3.05 text:3,1 bar:1995 from:start till:2.96 text:3,0 bar:1999 from:start till:4.17 text:4,2 bar:2003 from:start till:5.34 text:5,3 bar:2007 from:start till:4.86 text:4,9 bar:2011 from:start till:4.03 text:4,0 bar:2015 from:start till:3.54 text:3,5 bar:2019 from:start till:3.90 text:3,9 bar:2023 from:start till:4.25 text:4,3

Municipal elections

European Parliament elections

Presidential elections

Indirect elections

Direct elections

Literature

* *

References

External links

*
Website in English

Academic paper
{{Authority control Christian democratic parties in Europe Protestant political parties Centre-right parties in Europe Conservative parties in Finland 1958 establishments in Finland Anti-gender movement Registered political parties in Finland Political parties established in 1958 Social conservative parties Member parties of the European People's Party