Finnish parliamentary election, 1983

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 20 and 21 March 1983. The elections were widely regarded as a "protest election" because, contrary to expectations, the major parties with the exception of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) performed poorly; the Liberal People's Party (LKP) lost all its seats in the Eduskunta, while the Finnish Rural Party (SMP) more than doubled its seat tally and the Greens won seats for the first time. The SMP's success was credited, at least in part, to voter distaste for some mainstream parties because of political scandals; no significant policy differences emerged in the election campaign. The SDP won 57 seats, the best performance by a party since World War II.

As was customary in Finland after a presidential election, the government resigned after Mauno Koivisto's victory in the presidential elections in January 1982. It was re-formed the next month with the same four-party coalition; the SDP, the Centre Party (Kesk), the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) and the Swedish People's Party (SFP); and many of the same ministers, with veteran SDP politician Kalevi Sorsa as Prime Minister. Two devaluations in October 1982, amounting to a 10% fall in the value of the markka, caused complaints by the SKDL that low-income groups were the main victims of this measure designed to enhance Finnish competitiveness abroad. The cabinet was dissolved by Sorsa at the end of the year after the SKDL ministers refused to support a government defense proposal. Asked immediately by the president to form a new government, Sorsa did so, but with the LKP taking the place of the SKDL. The government's slender majority of 103 votes in the Eduskunta was not an important handicap, for new elections were scheduled for March 1983.

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