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National Coalition Party (Finland)

National Coalition Party
Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus
Swedish: Samlingspartiet
President Petteri Orpo
Vice-presidents Antti Häkkänen
Sanni Grahn-Laasonen
Janne Sankelo
Founded 1918; 99 years ago (1918)
Merger of Finnish Party, Young Finnish Party
Headquarters Kansakoulukuja 3 A
FI-00100 HELSINKI
FINLAND
Youth wing Coalition Party Youth League
Membership  (2011) 41,000
Ideology Liberalism
Liberal conservatism
Pro-Europeanism
Political position Centre-right
European affiliation European People's Party
International affiliation International Democrat Union
European Parliament group European People's Party
Colours      Blue
Parliament
37 / 200
European Parliament
3 / 13
Municipalities
1,492 / 8,999
Website
www.kokoomus.fi

The National Coalition Party (Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus, Kok.; Swedish: Samlingspartiet, Saml.) is a liberal and conservativepolitical party in Finland.

Founded in 1918, the National Coalition Party is one of the four largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party, the Finns Party and the Centre Party. The party bases its politics on "individual freedom and responsibility, equality, Western democracy and economic system, humane principles and caring." The party is strongly pro-European and is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

Its vote share has been around 20% in parliamentary elections in the 1990s and 2000s. It won 44 out of 200 seats in the parliamentary elections of 2011, becoming the largest party in the Finnish parliament for the first time in its history. On the municipal level, it became the most popular party in 2008 and has retained that position. In the 2015 election the NCP lost its status as the country's largest party, as they finished second in votes and third in seats. Regardless, the party again joined the government coalition.

Its voters are predominantly urban, while in rural regions its performance is relatively weak. The current leader is Petteri Orpo, elected on 11 June 2016.

According to its platform the National Coalition Party wants to build "a society where a person’s own choices, hopes, and needs set the direction for national development." The party defends "individual freedom, and promotes people’s opportunities to make choices, but without ignoring everyone’s responsibility for their own life, others, and the environment. Our ideology combines freedom with responsibility, democracy, and equality". The party's basic values are education, tolerance, rewarding and caring. Individuals' freedom to think and act independently and minorities' rights are core matters to the party. According to the history section of the official website the platform has been shaped by ideas of conservatism, liberalism and social reform, which have all contributed to the current ideology.Alexander Stubb has described the party's policies as "unambiguously liberal". In 2010 the party congress voted in favour of supporting same-sex marriage.


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