The Constitutional Right Party (, , from 1973 to 1980 Constitutional People's Party (, ). ) was an

anticommunist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The party was founded in 1973 by the parliamentarian Master in Law Georg C. Ehrnrooth as an anticommunist split from the Swedish People's Party (SFP). The party had around 4,000 members. The party was founded as a response to SFP and the only major right-wing party, National Coalition, backing the re-election of President

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 ...

by emergency law, simply for convenience and despite the lack of any national emergency. Ehrnrooth saw this as a sign of Finlandization, and held that the constitution was being circumvented and the people left out of the process.

History

The party contested the 1975 parliament election, obtaining 1.6% of the national vote and winning one seat. In the 1979 parliament election the party won 1.2% of the votes but no seat.Wende, Frank.
Lexikon zur Geschichte der Parteien in Europa
'. Stuttgart: Kröner, 1981. p. 156 The most seats the party ever held were two (1973–75 and 1986–87), although in both cases, one seat was gained by a defection. At the 1978 Finnish presidential election, the party supported Ahti Salonen, a social democrat critical of Kekkonen and SDP's support of Kekkonen. At the 1982 election, however, the party supported Mauno Koivisto, in order to ensure Ahti Karjalainen, whom they regarded as too Soviet-friendly, would not succeed as a '

dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance, unlike the underdog who is exp ...

'. Constitutional Right Party rallied every 17 July in a big numbers, as Finland got its Republican-based governmental basic rule in that date in 1919.

Ideology

Constitutional Right Party was the only Finnish political party which openly rallied Finland for joining the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

in 1988.

Leaders

Chairmen

* Ilpo Järvinen 1973–1974Eero Ojanen: "Koivisto Need Not Be Criticized in Finland" (''Helsingin Sanomat'' 20 October 1983) in
JPRS West Europe Report 21.11.1983
' U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service * Georg C. Ehrnrooth 1974–1992Pop ei ole enää piikki porvareiden lihassa
''Helsingin Sanomat'' 10 May 1992 * Erkki Enberg 1992–1993 * Tapio Väisänen 1993–?

Party secretaries

* Peter Kankkonen * Panu Toivonen 1982–1990Perustuslaillisten puoluesihteeri vaihtui
''Helsingin Sanomat'' 8 May 1990 * Ulla Bogdanoff 1990–?

Vice chairmen

Kullervo Rainio Kullervo () is an ill-fated character in the ''Kalevala'', the Finland, Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Growing up in the aftermath of the massacre of his entire tribe, he comes to realise that the same people who had brought ...

1978–1980Kullervo Rainio
Jyväskylän kaupunginkirjasto * Markku Pietikäinen (1.) 1986–?Marit Ingves: "Ehrnrooth: 'Resolutions Do Not Control Terrorism (''Hufvudstadsbladet'' 27. April 1986) in
JPRS West Europe Report 25.6.1986
' U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service * Tuula Heiman (2.) 1986–? * Matti Järviharju 1988–? * Pentti Taavitsainen 1990–?

Elections

References

{{reflist 1973 establishments in Finland 1993 disestablishments in Finland Anti-communist parties Anti-communist organisations in Finland Conservative parties in Finland Defunct political parties in Finland Political parties disestablished in 1993 Political parties established in 1973 Political schisms