Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0133/01338.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 12KB | 227 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01338}
$Pretitle{367}
$Title{Finland
The State}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Riitta da Costa}
$Affiliation{Otava Publishing Co.}
$Subject{government
courts
parliament
president
party
council
court
local
finnish
finland}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Table 18.*0133801.tab
}
Country:     Finland
Book:        Facts About Finland
Author:      Riitta da Costa
Affiliation: Otava Publishing Co.
Date:        1990

The State
Constitution and form of government

     Since 1919 Finland has been a republic. Fundamental constitutional laws
are those concerning the form of government (1919) and the parliamentary
system (1928). Since the enacting of the form of government in 1919 there have
been no essential changes in the Finnish constitution.

     Regulations concerning the structure and powers of the highest organs of
government and the constitutional rights of citizens are contained in the
constitution. Political power is in the hands of the nation, represented by
Parliament. The Parliament Act contains more detailed regulations concerning
the structure of Parliament and the system of election. Two hundred members of
Parliament are elected by direct vote for four years, but the President of
Finland has the right to dissolve Parliament before the end of such a period
and order new elections. For the elections the country is divided into 14
electoral districts, from which members of Parliament are elected by
proportional representation using the d'Hondt system. In addition, one member
from the self-governing province of Aland Islands is elected. Legislative
power is vested in Parliament acting in conjunction with the President.
Parliament decides upon the budget and supervises the actions and
administration of the government.

     According to the constitution, the highest executive power is vested in
the President, who is elected by the nation for a period of six years. The
election has been performed by an electoral college of 301 chosen by
proportional representation. The new law affecting the election of the
president has changed the procedure in favour of a direct popular vote and it
was used for the first time in the elections of 1988. There are two ballot
papers: one is used to vote for a presidential candidate, while the other is
used to vote for a member of the selection committee. If no single
presidential candidate has a majority, the winner is chosen by the selection
committee, according to the established procedure.

     The formal powers of the President are extensive. He presents laws and
government proposals on other matters to Parliament, he ratifies laws, issues
statutes, appoints top civil servants and judges, leads foreign policy and is
Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces. Besides the President, the
constitution provides for a Council of State or Cabinet presided over by the
Prime Minister for the general government of the country.

Government and administration

     The President of Finland and the Council of State together form the
Finnish Government. The President appoints the Prime Minister and other
ministers, who must enjoy the confidence of Parliament. This provision makes
the Government responsible politically to Parliament, although the President
himself is not responsible to Parliament. Those meetings of the Government
where the President decides government matters that come within his sphere are
led by him. Government meetings where other matters are decided are led by the
Prime Minister. In making his decisions the President is not bound to consider
the opinions of ministers or even a majority of ministers, but in practice his
decisions have almost without exception followed ministerial thinking. Over
the years there has been considerable variation in the actual use of
presidential power, but on the whole the Finnish system of government has
remained parliamentary.

     The Council of State is divided into 13 Ministries, each of them in
charge of its own administrative field. The Council of State decides the most
important matters in general meetings. Other matters are left for the
Ministries to decide themselves.

     The Council of State and the Ministries are not directly responsible for
all government administration. Various kinds of central boards operate under
several of the Ministries. These are collegiate bodies, in which a "college"
of top civil servants wields the highest power.

     For regional administration the country is divided into 12 provinces
(laani) (1988). The general administrative authority in each province is the
provincial board, led by a governor appointed by the President. The provincial
board supervises administration in the area, and is responsible for many
regional administrative tasks. It is also the highest police authority in the
province. Under the provincial board are the local administrative authorities:
sheriffs (nimismies) in 225 districts, and magistrates in the so-called
"old" cities.

     For historical reasons, the province of Aland has a special status.
Since 1920 it has had a fairly extensive autonomy, based on laws of
self-government (the present law is from 1951). The citizens of Aland elect
by means of proportional representation a Provincial Parliament of 30 members,
who in turn elect the Provincial Government.

     There is local self-government separate from the state administration.
For this purpose the country is divided into 461 municipalities (kunta)
(1987), 84 of which are cities.

Parties

     The political parties are a vital part of the Finnish political system.
They represent different groups and competing trends of opinion in the nation,
they organize election campaigns and fill government posts where political
power is wielded with their representatives.

     Post-war party politics has been characterized by competition between
rural areas and towns. Nevertheless, the Agrarians (now the Centre Party) and
the Social Democrats have formed several coalition governments together with
smaller parties in recent decades.

     Ever since the beginning of Finnish independence, there has been a
non-socialist majority in Parliament almost without interruption.

     The political left is represented by the Finnish Social Democratic Party
(SDP), the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) and the Democratic
Alternative (Deva). The Finnish Communist party is divided into supporters of
SKDL and Deva. There are several non-socialist parties. The traditional
conservative party is the National Coalition Party (KOK), whose support grew
considerably during the 1970s along with the increase in "white-collar
employees". The Centre Party (KESK) (the Agrarian Union up to 1965) finds its
greatest support in North and East Finland and among the rural population. The
Liberal People's Party became a member organization of the Centre Party in
1982 but is independent again. The Swedish People's Party (RKP) represents the
Swedish-speaking minority. Newer non-socialist parties are the Finnish Rural
party (SMP), which broke off from the Agrarian Union in 1959, the Finnish
Christian League (SKL) (in Parliament since 1970) and, farthest right in the
party spectrum, the Constitutional Right-Wing Party (POP). The newest
political group are the "Greens" (Ecologists), somewhere between socialists
and non-socialists. After the 1987 parliamentary elections they have four
seats.

[See Table 18.: Party Support in Parliamentary Elections 1987]

Local government

     According to the constitution, local government should be based on
self-government by the people. More detailed regulations concerning local
government are given in the Local Government Act (1976) prescribed by
Parliament. The same law applies to both rural municipalities and cities.
According to this Act, it is the task of the local authorities (kunta) on
their own responsibility to perform the functions that belong to
self-government and those otherwise decreed by law. They are responsible inter
alia for schools, health and sickness care, planning and building, and socia