Parliamentary elections were held in
Finland on 1 and 2 July 1936.[1] Following the election Prime Minister
Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the
National Progressive Party was defeated in a confidence vote in September 1936 and resigned in October.
Kyösti Kallio of the
Agrarian League formed a centrist minority government after
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud (
National Coalition Party) refused to allow the
Social Democrats to join the government. After Svinhufvud's defeat in the
February 1937 presidential election, Kallio took office as the new President in March 1937, and he allowed the Social Democrats, Agrarians and Progressives to form the first centre-left or "red soil" ("red" for the Social Democrats and "soil" for the Agrarians) Finnish government.
Aimo Cajander (Progressive) became Prime Minister, although the real strong men of the government were Finance Minister
Väinö Tanner (Social Democrat) and Defence Minister
Juho Niukkanen (Agrarian).
Background
Finland had clearly recovered from the
Great Depression since 1933, and unemployment had been almost eliminated. Prime Minister Kivimäki wanted to continue in office and to broaden his narrow right-wing minority government. The new Finnish economic prosperity, and the growing contacts between leading Agrarians and Social Democrats, made alternatives emerge for the Kivimäki government. For the first time in the history of independent Finland, an Agrarian-Social Democratic government began to be seriously discussed and planned. Despite its noisy and vigorous activity, the far-right
Patriotic People's Movement remained small. Under the leadership of
Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the National Coalitioners moved towards the political centre, and rejected calls for a new electoral alliance with the Patriotic People's Movement. The election results showed that the Finnish political democracy and its two leading moderate parties, the Social Democrats and Agrarians, had been strengthened. The Depression-based fringe parties, the
Small Farmers' Party of Finland and the
People's Party, lost most of their seats, while the Patriotic People's Movement remained at fourteen deputies, and the moderate right (National Coalitioners) gained two seats. The divided Progressives (Prime Minister Kivimäki led their right wing, and Professor Cajander led their left wing) lost four seats.[2][3]