This article gives an overview of liberalism and centrism in Finland. It is limited to liberal and centrist parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it is not necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Liberalism was a major force in Finland since 1894. After independence the current gradually decreased. A major other force, agrarianism, choose in 1965 to develop itself into a more centrist current. The liberal character of the Finnish Center (Suomen Keskusta), member of LI and ELDR, is based on liberal ideas like decentralization, peasant-like freedom and progressivism. The Swedish minority party Swedish People's Party (Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland) is also a member of LI, ELDR. The original liberal current is now organized in the Liberals (Liberaalit), a very small extra-parliamentary party. At the autonomous island of Åland the Liberals for Åland (Liberalerna på Åland) are a dominant force.
1877: Liberals formed the Liberal Club (Liberaalinen Klubi), renamed in 1880 Liberal Party (Liberaalinen Puolue)
1882: The Liberal Party disappeared
1894: Liberal fennomans formed the Young Finns Party (Nuorsuomalainen Puolue)
1918: The NSP is reorganised into the National Progressive Party (Kansallinen Edistyspuolue)
1951: The KEP fell apart into the Finnish People's Party (Suomen Kansanpuolue) and the ⇒ Free-minded League
1965: The SK and the ⇒ Free-minded League reunited into the Liberal People's Party (Liberaalinen Kansanpuolue)
1982: The LKP associated itself with the ⇒ Center Party
1987: The LKP disassociated itself from the ⇒ Center Party
1995: Last time LKP had a seat in the parliament, since then has been a very small extra-parliamentary party
2000: The LKP renamed itself as Liberals (Liberaalit)
2007: Removed from the party registry after failing to get a seat in two consecutive parliamentary elections
1906 Liberal svekomans formed the present-day Swedish People's Party in Finland (Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland)
1917: Progressive liberals formed the People's Party (Finland) (Kansanpuolue)
1918: The People's Party merged into the ⇒ National Progressive Party
1951: The ⇒ National Progressive Party fell apart and the Free-minded League (Vapaamielisten Liitto) is formed
1965: The League merged with the ⇒ Finnish People's Party into the ⇒ Liberal People's Party
Centrists
1965: The agrarian Agrarian League (Maalaisliitto) reorganised itself into the Centre Party (Keskustapuolue).
1987: The Centre Party is renamed Finnish Centre (Suomen Keskusta)
Liberal and centrist leaders
Kansallinen Edistyspuolue: Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
Maalaisliitto/Keskustapuolue: Urho Kekkonen
Keskusta: Esko Aho - Anneli Jäätteenmäki - Matti Vanhanen - Mari Kiviniemi - Juha Sipilä
Svenska Folkpartiet: Ole Norrback - Jan-Erik Enestam - Stefan Wallin - Carl Haglund
In the Contributions to liberal theory the following Finnish thinker is included:
Santeri Alkio (Finland, 1862-1930)
Anders Chydenius (Finland, 1729-1803)
