Finnish elections were yesterday.

[Askold]

The parliament elections certainly shook things up and there were a few surprises.

The biggest winners were the Center party. (This bit wasn't a surprise to me but there were others who dropped their monocle.) The Center party was in the opposition so they were distanced from the government which was seen as a failure. They got 14 more seats than they previously had. Total 49.

The second biggest party now is either the National Coalition Party or the Finns (They are doing a recount, because less than 200 votes would move one seat from Finns to NCP.) Both of these parties lost voters but the Finns only lost one seat in the parliament which was a shame. Turns out that they have been very successful at becoming the party of homophobes and racists (though at the same time they try to deny it and distance themselves from those candidates that are openly racist.) and those are really dedicated voters because no other party has candidates that are willing to go on record to say they wish to deport "niggers and towelheads. Finns lost one seat. Total 38

Meanwhile the National Coalition at least took a beating but they still have support. The prime minister campaigned by complaining that "leftist" methods (which had been stopped 4 years ago) were ruining Finland and if re-elected they would do their best to stop them. Despite the fact that by being the prime minister they already had the means to do so (and had done so and were in fact mostly to blame for our current state.) In fact, despite us having a right-wing government, doing right-wing politics, they were successful at blaming the left for everything and making a significant part of voters believe them. Down by 7 seats. Total 37 (Recount may change this.)

Social Democrat Party took a beating and lost 8 seats. The fact that they were in a right wing government and letting them run right wing politics AND still getting the blame for ruining the country is an achievement in failure. Total 34.

Green party were the only other winner, by going from 10 seats to 15. JJJ Kasvi is back in the Parliament which is cool as I consider him one of the few smart Greens. (He used to be a reviewer and a columnist in a gaming magazine and I've been his fan.) Other than that they are kinda populist party and since they oppose nuclear power and often fight with the Center Party over conservation of nature and agriculture they might stay out of the government as a protest. This would be a shame as whoever takes their place will be even worse.

The Left Alliance lost two seats and are down to 12. This surprised me and it was assumed that the results for the Green and Left would be reverse of the actual outcome. The Left left the government because they opposed the politics they were doing. This was seen as a betrayal by some voters but when you go into the government after being promised something and people then just walk over you and run politics that is against everything you stand for, it is kinda easy to see why you would not want to support them anymore.

Not much else happened. The Christian Democrats lost a seat (I had hoped for worse outcome for them) and they are guaranteed to continue wailing and fighting against same-sex marriage. The pirates still didn't get a seat, due to the way votes are counted. This time at least they got more votes than previously and were really close. Their main problem is that since voters who agree with them don't really believe they have a chance they vote for the second best option as they fear "wasting" the vote if the party they voted doesn't get a seat.

A few of my friends have already announced that they are leaving the country out of fear of what the Center-NCP-Finns government would do to us.

Also, the Finns really are scary. They put out statements that are on par with the kinds you see at RSTDT site and Hakkarainen, one of their biggest voter favourites is kinda like that Toronto mayor if he had only used alcohol and was as racist as the average KKK member.


Being a fan of the Center party (though I have lately started to like Left Alliance as well) I am not quite as disappointed but this can turn out rather bad. (I really want to see the younger candidates in the Center Party get to the parliament. The old ones still have too many religious fundamentalists and support Russia far too much...)

[Dakota Bob]

The pirates still didn't get a seat, due to the way votes are counted. This time at least they got more votes than previously and were really close. Their main problem is that since voters who agree with them don't really believe they have a chance they vote for the second best option as they fear "wasting" the vote if the party they voted doesn't get a seat.

Well that certainly doesn't describe me. Voted pirate party because they aligned mostly with my beliefs, not a big fan of this "pragmatic" voting.

[Askold]

We would never get any new parties if everyone would play safe with their vote.

[Ultimate Paragon]

We would never get any new parties if everyone would play safe with their vote.

That's true of any democratic country.

[Sylvana]

We would never get any new parties if everyone would play safe with their vote.

That's true of any democratic country.

Which is why first past the post elections will always be  used in democratic societies, as well as why they are a problem and why we should be using tiered voting. First past the post favors the big parties in power too much, and in turn encourages everyone to vote strategically. While tiered voting allows people to vote for newer smaller parties while still maintaining their ability to vote strategically. hence why no country would ever do it.

I will admit though, the original post meant very little to me, sadly. I am just not clued up about the intricacies of the Finnish political situation. Unlike the Americans, European elections tend to be far more nuanced and make very little meaningful sense to someone who has not actively been paying attention. Although, from what I have been able to gather, it seems that throughout Europe there has been an alarming increase in blatantly racist, xenophobic, islamophobic, homophobic and ultra conservative parties and their power. Although it seems that perhaps in Finland that power is finally starting to erode, I hope.

[Askold]

The Finns are the main stronghold for racism, homophobia and islamophobia. Their weakness is that the candidates that gather votes from those kinds of people are mainly populists and often not the best politicians either. Even that party has some decent people in it and their leader is actually smart, although I disagree with him on several matters, but he has trouble reigning in the morons that got through the elections...

Last time their main problem was that they refused to negotiate when they were asked to join the government. Soini knew that if the Finns are part of the government they will fuck things up and actually be responsible. Instead they played hard to get until NCP got tired of their bullshit and formed the government without them. BUT if he does the same again it will be clear, even to his voters, that they are avoiding responsibility and they will take a hit to their popularity. On the other hand, if they do join the government (If the prime minister takes them in) they will either have to play along with others (which includes making compromises) or cause a fight over something (likely because they want to undo the gay marriage act before it becomes a law, or deport all immigrants or something) and probably end up crashing the goverment.