# 1991 Finnish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 March 1991, the first time a Finnish parliamentary election had been held on a single day. For the first time since 1962 the Social Democratic Party was displaced as the largest party in the Eduskunta, with the Centre Party winning 55 seats and forming the first centre-right, non-social democratic government since 1964, with Esko Aho as Prime Minister.

## Results

| | Centre Party | 676,717 | 24.83 | 55 | +15 |
| | Social Democratic Party | 603,080 | 22.12 | 48 | –8 |
| | National Coalition Party | 526,487 | 19.31 | 40 | –13 |
| | Left Alliance | 274,639 | 10.08 | 19 | –1 |
| | Green League | 185,894 | 6.82 | 10 | +6 |
| | Swedish People's Party | 149,476 | 5.48 | 11 | –1 |
| | Finnish Rural Party | 132,133 | 4.85 | 7 | –2 |
| | Finnish Christian League | 83,151 | 3.05 | 8 | +3 |
| | Liberal People's Party | 21,210 | 0.78 | 1 | +1 |
| | Women's Party | 12,725 | 0.47 | 0 | New |
| | Pensioners' Party | 10,762 | 0.39 | 0 | 0 |
| | Constitutional Right Party | 7,599 | 0.28 | 0 | 0 |
| | Liberals for Åland–Freeminded–Greens | 6,546 | 0.24 | 1 | 0 |
| | Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism | 6,201 | 0.23 | 0 | New |
| | Independent Non-aligned Pensioners | 5,230 | 0.19 | 0 | New |
| | Greens | 3,835 | 0.14 | 0 | – |
| | Humanity Party | 2,831 | 0.10 | 0 | New |
| | Joint Responsibility Party of Pensioners and the Greens | 2,807 | 0.10 | 0 | New |
| | Åland Centre | 1,858 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| | Åland Social Democrats | 940 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 |
| | Others | 11,797 | 0.43 | 0 | – |
| Total | Total | 2,725,918 | 100.00 | 200 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,725,918 | 98.16 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 51,066 | 1.84 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 2,776,984 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 4,060,778 | 68.39 | | |
| Source: Tilastokeskus, ASUB ||||||

### By electoral district

| Electoral district | Total seats | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won | Seats won |
| Electoral district | Total seats | Kesk | SDP | Kok | Vas | RKP | Vihr | SKL | SMP | LKP | L–S–G |
| Åland | 1 | | | | | | | | | | 1 |
| Central Finland | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | 1 | | |
| Häme | 13 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | | 1 | | | | |
| Helsinki | 20 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | | | |
| Kymi | 13 | 4 | 5 | 3 | | | 1 | | | | |
| Lapland | 8 | 5 | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | |
| North Karelia | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | | | | 1 | | | |
| North Savo | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | | | | 1 | | |
| Oulu | 18 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | | 1 | | | 1 | |
| Pirkanmaa | 15 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | |
| Satakunta | 12 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | | | 1 | 1 | | |
| South Savo | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Uusima | 30 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | | |
| Vaasa | 18 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | | 1 | 1 | | |
| Varsinais-Suomi | 17 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | |
| Total | 200 | 55 | 48 | 40 | 19 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| Source: Statistics Finland ||||||||||||

### By province

| Province | Centre | Social Democratic | National Coalition | Left Alliance | Green League | Swedish People's | Rural | Christian League | Liberal People's | Electorate | Votes | Valid | Invalid |
| Southern Savonia | 32,762 | 25,057 | 15,827 | 3,098 | 5,472 | 0 | 5,219 | 4,248 | 137 | 136,246 | 94,026 | 92,536 | 1,490 |
| Northern Savonia | 50,820 | 23,808 | 18,139 | 18,812 | 9,369 | 0 | 9,603 | 4,187 | 644 | 198,532 | 137,691 | 136,008 | 1,683 |
| North Karelia | 31,849 | 27,616 | 12,402 | 4,762 | 3,687 | 0 | 5,219 | 4,679 | 456 | 135,563 | 93,426 | 92,018 | 1,408 |
| Kainuu | 25,025 | 5,415 | 4,681 | 10,380 | 2,032 | 0 | 1,643 | 1,427 | 276 | 73,204 | 52,166 | 51,522 | 644 |
| Uusimaa | 55,048 | 133,869 | 158,204 | 51,038 | 72,700 | 66,636 | 14,506 | 15,020 | 4,506 | 882,630 | 624,147 | 606,833 | 17,314 |
| Eastern Uusimaa | 5,480 | 9,104 | 5,656 | 2,036 | 2,767 | 16,423 | 1,076 | 736 | 225 | 64,626 | 45,583 | 44,663 | 920 |
| Southwest Finland | 54,669 | 54,374 | 52,863 | 26,805 | 11,348 | 12,473 | 15,160 | 4,670 | 839 | 331,626 | 242,317 | 238,321 | 3,996 |
| Tavastia Proper | 19,830 | 28,006 | 22,128 | 7,458 | 6,143 | 0 | 1,943 | 2,927 | 177 | 126,110 | 92,593 | 90,681 | 1,912 |
| Päijänne Tavastia | 18,337 | 24,896 | 28,713 | 8,844 | 8,248 | 135 | 5,601 | 5,009 | 217 | 153,066 | 103,944 | 101,664 | 2,280 |
| Kymenlaakso | 21,560 | 37,777 | 23,918 | 6,932 | 6,797 | 0 | 2,980 | 4,157 | 559 | 152,984 | 108,375 | 106,177 | 2,198 |
| South Karelia | 22,362 | 25,293 | 13,348 | 2,151 | 4,738 | 0 | 2,738 | 4,786 | 1,148 | 111,298 | 79,282 | 77,730 | 1,552 |
| Central Finland | 44,213 | 35,146 | 18,862 | 15,841 | 7,599 | 0 | 10,447 | 7,217 | 375 | 194,921 | 142,551 | 140,622 | 1,929 |
| Southern Ostrobothnia | 58,982 | 13,706 | 22,198 | 5,702 | 2,736 | 196 | 10,670 | 3,276 | 358 | 151,962 | 120,135 | 119,135 | 1,000 |
| Ostrobothnia | 10,758 | 17,164 | 8,336 | 6,624 | 3,027 | 48,646 | 1,879 | 2,394 | 550 | 130,603 | 101,151 | 100,205 | 946 |
| Satakunta | 32,203 | 39,104 | 28,548 | 20,488 | 6,332 | 0 | 6,985 | 3,916 | 349 | 191,700 | 142,335 | 139,915 | 2,420 |
| Pirkanmaa | 33,145 | 57,539 | 56,606 | 32,115 | 16,192 | 0 | 25,490 | 6,957 | 2,184 | 330,397 | 238,809 | 233,966 | 4,843 |
| Central Ostrobothnia | 18,906 | 6,442 | 2,766 | 2,518 | 932 | 3,246 | 2,326 | 3,510 | 283 | 51,978 | 41,640 | 41,174 | 466 |
| Northern Ostrobothnia | 82,748 | 20,375 | 20,856 | 25,405 | 10,991 | 0 | 6,042 | 2,538 | 7,367 | 246,074 | 180,451 | 178,227 | 2,224 |
| Lapland | 56,350 | 15,571 | 9,951 | 22,068 | 3,926 | 0 | 2,169 | 1,153 | 456 | 150,094 | 114,093 | 112,505 | 1,588 |
| Åland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,455 | 9,382 | 9,263 | 119 |
| Source: European Election Database Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine ||||||||||||||

## Aftermath

The new center-right coalition government would not have an easy time governing the country. The fall of the Soviet Union caused a collapse in trade with the east, which together with a worldwide recession, caused major economic problems including high unemployment and ballooning budget deficits. In response, the government adopted strict austerity measures, such as cuts in public spending, the unpopularity of which led to the government's defeat in the 1995 elections.