Parliament of Finland - History

History

The Eduskunta was preceded by the Diet of Finland (Swedish: lantdagen; Finnish: maapäivät, later Finnish: valtiopäivät), which had succeeded the Riksdag of the Estates in 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomous Grand Principality under the Russian Tsar, who ruled as Grand Prince of Finland, rather than as an absolute monarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented first in Finland. Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people with no excluded minorities. The first election to the parliament was arranged in 1907. The first parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913.

The first steps of the new Parliament were difficult as between 1908–1916 the power of the Finnish parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian tsar Nicholas II and the so called "sabre-senate" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed by Russian army officers, during the second period of Russification. The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year during the period. The Finnish parliament received the true political power for the first time after the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia.

Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917 and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured the tragic Finnish Civil War, in which the whites (forces of the Senate) defeated the socialist reds. After the war monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the parliament elected a German prince as King of Finland in the Fall of 1918. However, this King-elect abdicated the throne after Germany's defeat in the First World War. In the parliamentary election of 1919 the republican parties won three quarters of the seats and thus the monarchists' ambitions were defeated. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties favouring a strong head of state, extensive powers were reserved for the President of Finland. During the Winter war, the parliament temporarily moved to Kauhajoki.

The constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the parliament, the president wielded considerable authority, which was fully utilized especially by President Urho Kekkonen. As the constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets. Only during President Mauno Koivisto's tenure in 1980's, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the rule. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991.

The new, revised constitution of 2000 removed almost all domestic powers of the president, strengthening the cabinet and the parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of European Union legislation under preparation in the parliament.