Swedish name Liberala partiet Vice chairman Tuomas Tiainen Ideology Liberal | Chairman Juhani Kähärä Founded 2015 (2015) | |
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Headquarters Hämeentie 153 B, 00560 Helsinki, Finland | ||
Liberal Party (Finnish: Liberaalipuolue – Vapaus valita), formerly lnown as the Whisky Party (Finnish: Kansallinen Viskipuolue, Swedish: Whiskypartiet), is a liberal Finnish political party, founded in 2015 and admitted to the registry of political parties in 2016. The party's chairman is Juhani Kähärä. He and other members of the party ran in the 2015 parliamentary election as candidates on the list of the Pirate Party, before Liberal Party had been registered.
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Platform
The party is known for its liberal take on alcohol policies, but claims a liberal platform overall. The platform of the party is to promote individual freedom, entrepreneurship, and decision making based on scientific research. The party opposes the power of interest groups in politics. The party aims in its political agenda to decrease prohibitive restrictions, such as limitations to opening hours of restaurants and strict licensing on taxis. Tax reductions are also on the agenda.
History
The impetus for founding the Whiskey Party was a 2014 event dubbed the "Whiskeygate" by the media. A beer and spirits convention was banned from using the name Olut & Viski Expo (Beer & Whiskey Expo) by the authorities, because the name was interpreted as being advertising of spirits prohibited by the law. A party was to be founded in protest to what was perceived as overbearing regulation.
Whiskey Party was founded the next year, in 2015. Just before the 2015 parliamentary election, the then not registered party promoted itself by handing out free portions of Whiskey. The party also published a campaigning song: "Vastuullisesti" (Responsibly).
The party's chairman Juhani Kähärä and other members ran in the 2015 parliamentary election as candidates on the list of the Pirate Party, before Whiskey Party had been registered.
After the election, the party continued the practice of publicly serving free whiskey to attract signatures for support cards in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, and Oulu.
By early February 2016, the party had secured the 5,000 signed support cards needed for registration. On 11 February, it submitted its application to the Ministry of Justice that maintains the political party registry. The party was officially registered on 18 March 2016.
Soon after the party had gained enough signatures for registration, it was announced that there will be an election about the official name of the party. On 14 May 2016, the party adopted a new name: Liberaalipuolue (Liberal Party). Finnish patent and registration office however did not accept the change, due to existence of similarly named associations: Suomen Liberaalinen Puolue ry (Liberal Party of Finland, registered association) and Liberaalit ry (Liberals, registered association).
On 17 June 2016, the party tried to adopt a new name again: Liberal Party – Freedom to choose. The name was accepted by the Finnish patent and registration office on 21 June, as the addition to the name was enough to separate it from other associations.
Liberal Party plans to participate in the municipal elections in 2017 in major cities and allows as candidates anybody regardless of political experience. The party also seeks to establish regional chapters.