Backgrounder: Finland's president, symbolic head of state with diminished powers

      Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-28 07:21:00|Editor: pengying
      Video PlayerClose

      HELSINKI, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- With the national voting for the new president of Finland due on Sunday, a popular desire for stronger presidency power has come up again this week.

      DIMINISHED POWERS

      Finnish presidents used to have major powers, but during the last 30 years, the presidents gradually lost nearly all the powers. The president now has a co-management role in the foreign policy and is also the commander in chief of the country's defense forces.

      An opinion survey by the think tank EVA published earlier this week indicated that 60 percent of the people would like to at least partially restore powers of the president in areas, such as calling new elections and choosing the prime minister. Currently, the parliament itself can dissolve itself and selects prime minister designate.

      "Finns have traditionally had this yearning for a strong leader or father figure," Timo Soikkanen, former professor of political history at Turku University, told Xinhua.

      He said the measures from the 1980s on to strengthen the position of the cabinet and to weaken the powers of the president were a reaction to the huge influence that Urho Kekkonen had amassed during his multi-term presidency in 1956-1981.

      When social democrat Mauno Koivisto became president (in office 1982-1994), he started to push for the introduction of more distinct parliamentarism. The last case where a Finnish president clearly used his powers against the decision of the political parties was during his presidency.

      The then leader of the Center Party Paavo Vayrynen and conservative leader Ilkka Suominen had agreed to form a center-right majority government after the parliamentary election in 1987, but Koivisto decided to appoint a coalition of conservatives and social democrats with former conservative leader Harri Holkeri as prime minister. "So Koivisto did not apply the principle he was promoting," Soikkanen noted.

      The strong powers of the Finnish president were the result of a political compromise in 1919. When Finland became independent in 1917, it first chose a German prince as its king. The republican constitution was enacted only after Germany lost World War I and the would-be king abdicated.

      "The political right accepted a republic on condition that the president gets major powers," professor Soikkanen explained. "The Finnish presidential powers until 1994 actually resembled those enjoyed by the Swedish king according to the constitution of 1789," Soikkanen noted.

      DIRECT POPULAR VOTE

      The development of the way a Finnish president is elected has been somewhat contrary to the trend of the presidential authority. "Even though the powers of the president were reduced, Finland started to arrange the high profile presidential elections, with a direct popular vote taking place later," Soikkanen said.

      The earlier presidents who had huge powers were each elected by a 300-member electoral college chosen in a popular election. The parties usually nominated their own presidential candidates. The electors voted for their own parties' candidates in the first round, but in the second and third rounds negotiations and horse trading started.

      Long time president Urho Kekkonen was elected with a one-vote majority 151-149. Conjecture continued for decades who gave the decisive ballot and in what kind of a deal.

      Soikkanen, who is also the official historian of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, told Xinhua that the reduce of powers of the president has made the management of foreign policy somewhat complex. The prime minister represents Finland in the decision-making in the European Union, and the president takes up non-EU affairs.

      "As the prime minister committed Finland to the sanctions against Russia during the Ukraine crisis, it was the role of the president to explain to Moscow that Finland nevertheless wants to maintain a dialogue," he explained.

      Until the start of the direct popular vote in 1988, the electoral colleges had chosen the presidents except twice. In 1944, the parliament elected Marshal C.G.E Mannerheim as the president as part of the effort to disengage Finland from World War II; In 1974, Kekkonen's six-year tenure was extended until 1978 through an act of the parliament, as Kekkonen wanted to continue his term without an election.

      Since the popular presidential vote was introduced in 1988, Finnish presidents have enjoyed such wide popular support that people somewhat tend to forget the presidential powers have been reduced.

      For example, during a recent presidential election debate, one of the candidates actually believed that as president she would be appointing the bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. But she was told that prerogative was cancelled in 2000 and the church now elects its bishops on its own.

      The current president Sauli Niinisto has also earlier mentioned that the president handles foreign policy "in cooperation with the cabinet", he always makes a small pause before the latter part of the explanation. He thus indicated he considered the president having the upper-hand in the foreign policy sector.

      TOP STORIES
      EDITOR’S CHOICE
      MOST VIEWED
      EXPLORE XINHUANET
      010020070750000000000000011100001369301061
      主站蜘蛛池模板: www久久com| 亚洲乱码国产一区三区| 野花香高清在线观看视频播放免费| 天堂avtt迅雷看看| 久久久精品人妻一区亚美研究所 | 国产精品无码V在线观看| 一级毛片不收费| 日韩欧美卡一卡二卡新区| 亚洲砖码砖专无区2023| 精字窝全球最大华人| 国产成人精品实拍在线| 97人洗澡人人澡人人爽人人模| 扒开双腿猛进湿润18p| 乱妇乱女熟妇熟女网站| 欧美黑人换爱交换乱理伦片| 又黄又爽无遮挡免费视频| 黄大片a级免色| 国产精品林美惠子在线观看| 一二三四在线观看高清| 日本免费精品视频| 亚洲av午夜成人片精品网站| 44444色视频在线观看| 成人妇女免费播放久久久| 五月天综合婷婷| 欧美综合自拍亚洲综合图| 午夜毛片不卡免费观看视频| 高清一级做a爱免费视| 国产精品午夜无码AV天美传媒| gⅴh372hd禁断介护老人| 我要看WWW免费看插插视频| 久热综合在线亚洲精品| 欧美日韩国产在线人成| 免费一级毛片在线视频观看| 老扒的幸福时光| 国产欧美日韩综合| 4444亚洲国产成人精品| 堕落前辈泄欲便器渡会| 东京热人妻无码人av| 日本高清视频免费观看| 亚洲一级毛片中文字幕| 毛片女人十八以上观看|