The Constitutional Right Party ( fi, Perustuslaillinen Oikeistopuolue, sv, Konstitutionella högerpartiet, from 1973 to 1980 Constitutional People's Party ( fi, Perustuslaillinen Kansanpuolue, sv, Konstitutionella Folkpartiet). ) was an

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. The party was founded in 1973 by the parliamentarian Master in Law

Georg C. Ehrnrooth Georg Carl Casimir Ehrnrooth (27 July 1926 - 17 October 2010) was a Finnish politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Parliament for Helsinki from 1958 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1987. He initially represented the Swedish People's Party of ...

as an anticommunist split from the

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

(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 The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces ( ar, الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية), commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) ( ar, الائتلاف الو ...

, 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 ...

emergency law A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

, simply for convenience and despite the lack of any national emergency. Ehrnrooth saw this as a sign of

Finlandization Finlandization ( fi, suomettuminen; sv, finlandisering; german: Finnlandisierung; et, soomestumine; russian: финляндизация, finlyandizatsiya) is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country refrai ...

, and held that the constitution was being circumvented and the people left out of the process. 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 Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1 ...

, 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 or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

'. Constitutional Right Party was the only Finnish political party which openly rallied Finland for joining the European Economic Community in 1988. Constitutional Right Party rallied every 17 July in a big numbers because that date was the day when Finland got its Republican-based governmental basic rule in 1919.

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 *

1974–1992Pop ei ole enää piikki porvareiden lihassa
''Helsingin Sanomat'' 10 May 1992 * Erkki Enberg 1992–1993 *

Tapio Väisänen Tapio may refer to: *Tapio (given name), a Finnish male given name *Tapio (surname), a Finnish surname *Tapio (spirit), a god or spirit in Eastern Finnish mythology *Tapiola, one of the major urban centres within the city of Espoo, outside of Helsi ...

1993–?

Party secretaries

Peter Kankkonen Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

* Panu Toivonen 1982–1990Perustuslaillisten puoluesihteeri vaihtui
''Helsingin Sanomat'' 8 May 1990 *

Ulla Bogdanoff Ulla is a given name. It is short for Ursula in German-speaking countries and Ulrika/Ulrikke in Scandinavian countries. As of 31 December 2011, there were 61,043 females named Ulla in Sweden, with the name being most popular during the 1930s a ...

1990–?

Vice chairmen

* Kullervo Rainio 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