2017 Finnish government crisis

The 2017 Finnish government crisis followed the Finns Party leadership election held on 10 June 2017. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre Party) and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party) announced on 12 June that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party after Jussi Halla-aho was elected party chairman. The crisis resolved on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's parliamentary group, forming what would eventually become the Blue Reform party. Sipilä's government retained a majority in Finland's parliament as the Blue Reform continued as a member of the coalition.

Prior to the crisis, the Finns Party had 37 MPs in the Finnish parliament and was represented in the Sipilä Cabinet by five ministers. Timo Soini, the long-time chair of the party and Minister for Foreign Affairs, announced in March 2017 that he would step down at the upcoming party conference in Jyväskylä, scheduled for June. Sampo Terho, the Minister for European Affairs and Culture, and Jussi Halla-aho, a Member of the European Parliament, emerged as the strongest candidates to succeed Soini. The party establishment was believed to support Terho against Halla-aho, a hardline critic of immigration and multiculturalism.

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