Page "Politics of Finland" Paragraph 21

The parliament has, since equal and common suffrage was introduced in 1906, been dominated by secular Conservatives, the Centre Party ( former Agrarian Union ), and Social Democrats.

Nevertheless, none of these has held a single-party majority, with the notable exception of 1916 elections where Social Democrats gained 103 of the 200 seats.

After 1944 Communists were a factor to consider for a few decades, and the Finnish People's Democratic League, formed by Communists and others to the left of Social Democrats, even was the largest party after 1958 elections.

Support for Communists decreased sharply in the early 1980s, while later on the same decade environmentalists formed the Green League, which is now a medium-sized party.

The Swedish People's Party represents Finland-Swedes, especially in language politics.

The relative strengths of the parties vary only slightly in the elections due to the proportional election from multi-member districts but there are some visible long-term trends.