The Swedish People's Party was founded by Axel Lille in 1906, making it one of oldest parties in Finland. The leader of the party is Jan-Erik Enestam. In the Parliament of Finland the representative for Åland is usually included in SFP's party-group, regardless of his/her party affiliation. (The political parties in Åland have no counterparts in Mainland Finland, but SFP's interests are very similar to those of Åland.)
The party receives its main electoral support from the Swedish speaking minority, which makes up about 5.6%[1] (http://www.stat.fi/tk/tp/tasku/taskue_vaesto.html) of Finland's and Åland's population. Despite its position as one of the minor political parties in the Finnish parliament it has frequently been one of the partners forming the governing coalition cabinets. SFP has not been in opposition since 1976 -- a remarkable achievement for a such a small party.
Political Positions
The Swedish language enjoys a privileged position as one of the two official languages of Finland. The SFP has as its main raison d'être the protection and strengthening of the position of Swedish in Finland.
The Swedish People's Party has the most eclectic profile of any of the political parties in Finland, its members and supporters including (chiefly):
fishermen and farmers from the Swedish-speaking coastal areas,
small-town dwellers from the adjacent Swedish-speaking towns,
green-minded and left-leaning middle-class intellectuals and cultural elite, and
rightist-inclined economic liberals from Helsinki.
Although SFP represents a small minority of Finland, Swedish mother tongue per se is not much of a political handicap. Several times Swedish speaking presidential candidates have gathered considerable support, although not necessarily as candidates for the Swedish People's Party:
In 1931 the Finland-Swedish Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, candidate for the Conservative Party got one elector's vote more than his opponent ex-president Ståhlberg.
The Swedish People's Party (Svenskafolkpartiet (SFP) in Swedish, Ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP) in Finnish) is a political party in Finland.
In the Parliament of Finland the representative for Ã…land is usually included in SFP's party-group, regardless of his/her party affiliation.
The party's relation to Eurosceptics and issues of the European Union is complicated, partly due to the SFP's historical ties to Finland's wealthiest families.
The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics.
Following Finland's incorporation into Sweden in the 12th century, Swedish became the dominant language in administration and education, although Finnish recovered its predominance after a 19th-century resurgence of Fennomanic Finnish nationalism (also working to assure Russia of the Grand Duchy's loyalty).
After Finland's independence followed strained relations with Sweden in connection with the Finnish Civil War and the Ã…land crisis, and the attitudes to the language issue sharpened to become a prominent feature of domestic politics during the 1920s and 1930s.
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