# 1968 Finnish presidential election

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1968. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won on the first ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was 70%.
Kekkonen's two opponents, the centre-right National Coalition Party's candidate Director of the National Commercial Bank Matti Virkkunen and the populist Finnish Rural Party's leader Veikko Vennamo, criticized him for governing Finland in a too autocratic way.
Vennamo in particular accused Kekkonen of pursuing a too dependent and servile foreign policy towards the Soviet Union. Since almost thirty per cent of the eligible Finnish voters abstained from voting, there was some underlying discontent with the presidential candidates, or Kekkonen's wide lead over his two opponents. Notably, the National Coalitioners and Ruralists - both opposition parties at the time - gained clearly higher percentages of the popular vote than in the 1966 Finnish parliamentary elections. This foreshadowed their major gains in the 1970 Finnish parliamentary elections. Although during this presidential campaign, Kekkonen promised not to run for president again, however, he extended his presidential term in 1973 and ran nearly unopposed in 1978.

## Results
### Popular vote

| Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Party or alliance | Votes | % | Seats |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Centre Party | 421,197 | 20.66 | 65 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Finnish People's Democratic League | 345,609 | 16.95 | 56 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Social Democratic Party | 315,068 | 15.46 | 55 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders | 46,833 | 2.30 | 6 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Swedish People's Party | 2,568 | 0.13 | 0 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | | Independents | 21,425 | 1.05 | 1 |
| | Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen | Total | Total | 1,152,700 | 56.54 | 183 |
| | Electoral Union of Matti Virkkunen | | National Coalition Party | 432,014 | 21.19 | 58 |
| | Electoral Union of Matti Virkkunen | | Independents | 6,787 | 0.33 | 2 |
| | Electoral Union of Matti Virkkunen | Total | Total | 438,801 | 21.52 | 60 |
| | Electoral Union of Veikko Vennamo | Electoral Union of Veikko Vennamo | Electoral Union of Veikko Vennamo | 231,282 | 11.35 | 33 |
| | Electoral Union of SFP | | Supporters of Urho Kekkonen | 68,378 | 3.35 | 9 |
| | Electoral Union of SFP | | Supporters of Matti Virkkunen | 43,892 | 2.15 | 6 |
| | Electoral Union of SFP | | Supporters of Veikko Vennamo | 677 | 0.03 | 0 |
| | Electoral Union of SFP | Total | Total | 112,947 | 5.54 | 15 |
| | Electoral Union of LKP | Electoral Union of LKP | Electoral Union of LKP | 102,831 | 5.04 | 9 |
| | Others | Others | Others | 31 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 2,038,592 | 100.00 | 300 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,038,592 | 99.49 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 10,410 | 0.51 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,049,002 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,920,635 | 70.16 | |
| Source: Nohln & Stöver |||||||

### Electoral college

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Urho Kekkonen | Centre Party | 201 | 67.00 |
| | Matti Virkkunen | National Coalition Party | 66 | 22.00 |
| | Veikko Vennamo | Finnish Rural Party | 33 | 11.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | 300 | 100.00 |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver |||||