PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 1919-1994
A B C
Year, mode, and special Names of candidates or Number of ballots taken
modalities of election. persons otherwise sup- and votes cast for each
candidate ported by votes. or person in each ballot
I II III
1) In 1919 by Parliament Ståhlberg 143
for full term. Transitory Mannerheim 50
provision, Constitution Relander 1
Act of 1919. Tanner 1
2) In 1925 by Electoral Relander 69 97 172
College for full term. Two Ryti 33 104 109
of six parties participating Suolahti 68 80
nominated no Presidential Väisänen 16 16
candidate in advance. Tanner 79 2
Söderholm 35
3) In 1931 by Electoral Svinhufvud 88 98 151
College for full term. Two Ståhlberg 58 149 149
of six parties participating Kallio 64 53
nominated no Presidential Tanner 90
candidate in advance.
4) In 1937 by Electoral Kallio 56 177
College for full term. Two Svinhufvud 94 104
parties nominated a joint, Ståhlberg 150 19
and one party no Presiden-
tial candidate in advance.
5) In 1940 by Electoral Ryti 288
College of 1937 for the Helo 4
remainder of Kallio's term Kivimäki 1
of office. Kallio resigned Svinhufvud 1
for reasons of health.
Finland was at war.
6) In 1943 by Electoral Ryti 269
College of 1937 for full Kotilainen 4
term. Finland was at war.
7) In 1944 President Ryti resigned. Parliament enacted a law of
exception that designated Mannerheim President for full term of
office. Finland signed armistice agreement terminating hostilities.
8) In 1946 President Mannerheim resigned. Parliament enacted a law of
exception that empowered it to elect President for the remainder of
Mannerheim's term of office. In Parliament Paasikivi was elected
with 159 votes, Ståhlberg received 14 votes.
9) In 1950 by Electoral Paasikivi 171
College for full term. Pekkala 67
Three parties nominated Kekkonen 62
a joint, and one party no
Presidential candidates
in advance.
10) In 1956 by Electoral Kekkonen 88 102 151
College for full term. All Fagerholm 72 114 149
parties nominated Presiden- Tuomioja/Paasikivi 57 84 1) 56
tial candidates in advance. Kilpi 20
No joint candidatures. Törngren 7
Rydman
(1) Paasikivi was not officially nominated candidate. He received 84
votes in the second ballot and officially nominated candidate
Tuomioja none.)
11) In 1962 by Electoral Kekkonen 199
College for full term. Three Aitio 62
parties nominated a joint Paasio 37
candidate in advance, but Skog 2
split about the candi-
dature. One party nominated
no, and three parties one
candidate each in advance.
Crisis in foreign policy
coincided.
12) In 1968 by Electoral Kekkonen 201
College for full term. Four Virkkunen 66
parties nominated a joint, Vennamo 33
two parties their own, and
one party no Presidential
candidate in advance.
13) In 1973 Parliament enacted a law of exception that extended Kekkonen's
term of office by four years until 1978 with 170 votes in favour,
28 against, and one abstention.
14) In 1978 by Electoral Kekkonen 259
College for full term. Six Westerholm 25
parties nominated a joint, Vennamo 10
and three parties each their Salonen 6
own Presidential candidate
in advance.
15) In 1982 by Electoral Koivisto 145 167
College ( now 301 electors) Holkeri 58 58
for full term. President Kek-Virolainen 53 53
konen resigned before the Kivistö 32 11
expiry of his term of office Jansson 11 11
for reasons of health. Eight Sipilä 1 1
parties nominated Presiden- Vennamo 1 0
tial candidates in advance, Westerholm 0 0
and two took part in Electoral
College election supporting
two of those candidates.
16) In 1988 by Electoral Koivisto 144 189
College for full term. Two Väyrynen 68 68
parties nominated a joint Holkeri 63 18
candidate, three parties Kivistö 26 26
each their own candidate.
According to the constitu-
tional amendment of 1987
the President had to be elected
amongst the officially nomi-
nated candidates either directly
by receiving at least 50% + 1
vote of all votes cast in popular
ballot or failing that by Electoral
College to be elected simultane-
ously. No candidate received the
required majority support in direct voting.
17) In 1994 election with direct popular vote in two consecutive rounds
of voting for first full term. Eleven Presidential candidaates were
eligigle for the first round: seven nominated by a political party
and four by an eligible voter associations (VA). The result of the
first round on 16 January 1994:
Candidate No of votes % of votes
Martti Ahtisaari (SDP) 828 038 25.9 %
Elisabeth Rehn (RKP) 702 211 22.0 %
Paavo Väyrynen (KESK) 623 415 19.5 %
Raimo Ilaskivi (KOK) 485 035 15.2 %
Keijo Korhonen (VA) 186 936 5.8 %
Claes Andersson (VAS) 122 820 3.8 %
Pertti Virtanen (VA) 95 650 3.0 %
Eeva Kuuskoski (VA) 82 453 2.6 %
Toimi Kankaanniemi (KRIST) 31 453 1.0 %
Sulo Aittoniemi (SMP) 30 622 1.0 %
Pekka Tiainen (VA) 7 320 0.2 %
_____________________________________________________________________
Total number of votes 3 195 953 or 78.4 %
No canditate received the electable majority of the votes cast in the
first round.
The result of the second round on 6 February 1994:
Candidate No of votes % of votes
Martti Ahtisaari 1 723 273 53.9 %
Elisabeth Rehn 1 476 506 46.6 %
__________________________________________________________________
Total number of votes 3 199 779 or 78.7 %
18) In 2000 election with direct popular vote in two consecutive rounds
of voting seven Presidential candidates nominated by a political party
were eligigle for the first round.
The result of the first round on 16 January 2000:
Candidate No of votes % of votes
Tarja Halonen (SDP) 1224063 40,0 %
Esko Aho (KESK) 1051123 34,4
Riitta Uosukainen (KOK) 391852 12,8 %
Elisabeth Rehn (RKP) 241739 7,9 %
Heidi Hautala (VIHR) 100731 3,3 %
Ilkka Hakalehto (PS) 31362 1,0 %
Risto Kuisma (REM) 16919 0,6 %
_________________________________________________________________________
Total number of votes 3 057789 or 76.9 %
No canditate received the electable majority of the votes cast in the
first round.
The result of the second round on 6 February 2000:
Candidate No of votes % of votes
Tarja Halonen 1 644 532 51,6 %
Esko Aho 1 540 803 48,4 %
________________________________________________________________________
Total number of votes 3 184 644 or 80,2 %
Back
to the main page of the presidency
return to the 
main
page
