Finland’s Laboratory of Democracy
What Can the US Learn from Finland’s Democracy?
Welcome to another essay from Civic Way’s series on global democracies. The author, Bruce Anderson, is an advisor to Civic Way. Bruce has an MBA and over 45 years of management experience with private entities like Price Waterhouse and public sector entities like the Cleveland Public Schools. He has managed projects for numerous other agencies, including colleges, schools, cities and counties. Bruce also served in the Peace Corps.
Civic Way’s Comparative Democracy Series
The world’s democracies come in many flavors. Some have strong central governments while others have federated structures. Some have an independent chief executive and some a parliamentary model. Few use the same rules for allocating, electing and removing public officials.
Some of these variations are embodied in a nation’s constitution and laws. Others spring from historical, cultural or demographic factors. Learning about these alternatives, and the risks they were intended to address, can yield promising ideas for improving our own democracy.
An Introduction to Finland
Finland is an independent republic with over 5.5 million people on 130,000 square miles (about the size of California). With a GDP of $267 billion euros, Finland is the world’s 46th largest economy. It joined the European Union in 1995 and is the only Nordic country using the euro (€) as its primary currency.
Finland’s neighbors include Russia, Norway and Sweden. Once part of Sweden and, for a short time, Russia, Finland became an independent nation in 1917. Finland relinquished some territory to Russia after World War II but has experienced few changes to its borders since.
Finland’s Government Structure
Under its Constitution (adopted in 2000), Finland has a representative, parliamentary national government with three branches:
Executive branch – The President serves as head of state, overseeing military and foreign matters. The Prime Minister forms a government and manages the executive branch and twelve ministries.
Legislative branch – The unicameral Parliament (eduskunta), which comprises 200 members, is independently elected to pass laws (subject to presidential approval).
Judicial branch – There are three levels—the Supreme Court, regional appellate courts and local courts—and several jurisdictions (i.e., civil, criminal, administrative and special). The Supreme Court has 15 to 18 judges and one administrative executive.
Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee, if engaged, can deem laws unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court cannot (statutory constitutionality is presumed upon enactment).
Finland has six regional administrative agencies and 15 regional Centers for Economic Development, Transport and Environment. It also has 19 counties and 310 cities and municipalities. Municipalities are governed by municipal councils and managed by non-elected, Council-appointed professionals. Council sizes vary by population (from nine members for small cities to 85 members for Helsinki).
An Overview of Finland’s Democracy
Finland is considered one of the strongest democracies in the world. Its Democracy Index score is 9.27, the third highest score among the 167 nations rated.
Finland has a competitive multi-party system. Any group may become a political party at no cost if it receives at least 5,000 votes in any election or submits at least 5,000 signatures from eligible voters. Parties, most of whom have local chapters, may nominate national and local candidates.
Here are some other distinctive features of Finland’s democracy:
Voting – Citizens aged 18 and older register to vote and, while voting turnout appears relatively high, there is no apparent penalty if a voter chooses to abstain from voting.
President – The President is elected to a six-year term by majority vote, usually in two steps (if no candidate wins a majority in the first election, the two top candidates compete in a run-off election).
Prime Minister – The Prime Minister, the leader of the party with the most votes in the most recent parliamentary election, must be elected by a majority vote of Parliament and then formally appointed by the President (a coalition government is required if no party has a majority of seats).
Legislative branch – Parliament’s 200 members are elected to four-year terms from 13 multi-member districts except for one member from an autonomous Swedish-speaking region. Parliament can overrule a presidential veto by majority vote.
Legislative representation – Parliamentary seats are allocated to parties using the D'Hondt method (approximates each party’s vote share from the last parliamentary election).
Judicial branch – The President appoints Supreme Court justices.
Elections – National elections are held every four years, local elections four years and European Union elections five years. National and local elections are staggered over three years.
Campaign finance – Every party with at least one parliamentary seat receives a federal subsidy (unless it fails to win a seat in two consecutive elections). National election campaign costs are reported and financed under the 2009 Election Funding Act.
Term limits – The President is limited to two consecutive terms. Parliament members and the Prime Minister don’t have term limits. Supreme Court justices have a mandatory retirement age of 68.
Removal process – Parliament can dissolve a government by majority approval of a “no confidence” petition. A High Court of Impeachment adjudicates criminal charges (for offenses in office) against the President, Supreme Court justices, Chancellor of Justice and Parliament Ombudsman.
Finland’s Current Political Landscape
The 2019 national election was the first in Finland’s history in which no party won over 20 percent of the vote. The six top parties were the Social Democrats (18 percent), Finns (18 percent), National Coalition (17 percent), Centre Party (14 percent), Green League (12 percent) and Left Alliance (8 percent). Together, these parties won nearly 87 percent of total votes and 92 percent of parliamentary seats.
Other parties winning seats in 2019 were the Christian Democrats, Movement Now and Swedish People's Party. The Centre Party suffered the biggest defeat, losing 18 seats. The far-right Finns Party nearly tied the Social Democrats. With the 2023 election looming, Finns Party support is rising.
After the election, five parties, led by the Social Democrats, formed a coalition government. Social Democrat Antti Rinne was appointed Prime Minister but forced to resign within six months. Social Democrat Sanna Marin then became the world’s youngest prime minister.
Possible Lessons for the US
Finland’s democracy has some interesting features which, while potentially difficult to replicate, may be worthy of consideration for the US, such as:
Parties – Since parties have found it virtually impossible to win a majority of parliamentary votes since World War II, they must frequently work with one other to form coalition governments.
Voting – In-person voting is machine-based (an earlier experiment with electronic voting was abandoned due to security concerns). Early voting (10 days before the election) is encouraged.
Elections – Separated national and local elections simplify ballots for voters.
Executive branch – The President’s expanded duties (i.e., less ceremonial role than in most parliamentary democracies) could help prevent Prime Minister overreach.
Legislative branch – The proportional allotment of seats has helped spur pluralism and coalition governments, especially since the Parliament is unicameral.
Judicial branch – Assigning Parliament the judicial review role boosts its power and shifting the judicial appointment process to the executive branch may curb its hyper-politicization.
Campaign finance – Subsidizing parliamentary parties encourages the formation and strengthens the competitiveness of multiple parties. Subsidizing national elections helps reduce the potentially corrosive influence of large donations and “dark money.”
Term limits – Forcing Supreme Court justices to retire at age 68 reduces the average age of justices (now 48) and may help make the court less partisan.
Removal process – While Parliament’s no-confidence power provides some accountability for the executive branch, no coalition government has been dissolved between elections since about 1980.
We cannot perfect our union without perfecting our democracy. This will require us to not only learn from our own successes and setbacks, but the feats and failures of other nations. Reviewing the successes of other nations and the barriers they overcame will help us strengthen our democracy.