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The 'Christian Democrats' (in Finnish: ''Kristillisdemokraatit'', ''KD''; in Swedish: ''Kristdemokraterna'') is a political party in Finland. The party was founded in 1958, chiefly from the Christian faction of the conservative National Coalition Party. The name was initially ''Finnish Christian League'' (in Finnish ''Suomen Kristillinen Liitto, SKL''; in Swedish ''Finlands Kristliga Förbund'') but it was changed in 2001.
The Christian Democrats have a tendency of forming alliances with other parties during elections and their success in elections is mainly determined by their success in these alliances. Their own voter base is stable and loyal, totaling around 5% of the votes.

Contents

Ideology

Politicians

List of party chairs

Current members of parliament

Elections results

Parliament elections

Local council elections

European parliament elections

See also

External links

Ideology

The Christian Democrats is a conservative right-of-centre party. However, in many social issues such as poverty and family policy, the party is nearer to the left-of-centre views.
Ideologically the Christian Democrats represent the Christian world view in politics in Finland. The party emphasizes the Christian faith as the basis of all political work, family as the center of the society, and responsible freedom. The party opposes e.g. gay marriages, abortion, euthanasia and divorce. The Christian Democrats promote e.g. human dignity, social equality and justice in political questions.
The party is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP).

Politicians

List of 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-)

Current members of parliament

★ Päivi Räsänen (Häme constituency)

★ Kari Kärkkäinen (Pohjois-Savo constituency)

★ Sari Palm (Kymi constituency)

★ Bjarne Kallis (Vaasa constituency)

★ Toimi Kankaanniemi (Keski-Suomi constituency)

★ Leena Rauhala (Pirkanmaa constituency)

★ Tarja Tallqvist (Uusimaa constituency)

Elections results

Parliament elections

Year	MPs	Votes	Share of votes
1958	0	3 358	0,17%
1966	0	10 646	0,45%
1970	1	28 228	1,40%
1972	4	65 228	2,53%
1975	9	90 599	3,29%
1979	9	138 244	4,77%
1983	3	90 410	3,03%
1987	5	74 209	2,58%
1991	8	83 151	3,05%
1995	7	82 311	2,96%
1999	10	111 835	4,17%
2003	7	148 987	5,34%
2007	7	134 643	4,9%

Local council elections

Year	Councillors	Votes	Share of votes
1972	134	49 877	2,0%
1976	322	85 792	3,2%
1980	333	100 800	3,7%
1984	257	80 455	3,0%
1988	273	71 614	2,72%
1992	353	84 481	3,2%
1996	353	75 494	3,2%
2000	443	95 009	4,3%
2004	392	94 666	4,0%

European parliament elections

Year	MEPs	Votes	Share of votes
1996	0	63 134	2,8%
1999	1	29 637	2,4%
2004	0	70 845	4,3%

See also

★ Christian Democracy as a political ideology

★ Kristillisdemokraattiset Nuoret ry. (Finnish Christian Democrats Youth Organization)

External links

★ Christian Democrats - Official site