Finnish People First Suomen Kansa Ensin | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | SKE |
Chairperson | Riikka Salmi |
Secretary | Ari Lindström |
Vice chairperson | Kari Sunell |
Founded | 2018 |
Dissolved | 2023 |
Split from | Suomi Ensin |
Headquarters | Tampere, Finland |
Ideology |
Finnish nationalism Euroscepticism Anti-immigration Anti- Islamization |
Political position | Far-right |
Parliament of Finland | 0 / 200 |
Website | |
skepuolue | |
Finnish People First [1] ( Finnish: Suomen Kansa Ensin, SKE [2]) was a nationalist political party in Finland. It was founded in 2018 [3] and de-registered in 2023 after failing to win seats in two consecutive parliamentary elections. [4] In July 2023, the party filed for bankruptcy and announced its dissolution. [5]
Finnish People First originated from the Suomi Ensin ("Finland First") movement that organized a protest camp in central Helsinki in the spring of 2017. [6] [7] The movement was led by Marco de Wit, [6] a YouTuber from Tampere. [8] [6] The movement splintered into numerous competing factions, one of which evolved into Finnish People First, [6] also led by de Wit. [9] It was registered as an association in November 2017. [10] The association had collected the required 5,000 supporter cards by October 2018, and was admitted to the party register in December that year. [6] Soon after, the party descended into internal strife. A party conference was convened to address the issue, but only resulted in furthering the divides. The conference re-elected Marco De Wit as the party chairman, but some members of the party contested the validity of the conference. [11] Another conference in November 2019 also brought up divisions within the party, when a group of members voted a new chair at a meeting, and after the meeting was partly evicted from the premises by security, the disputed new chair decided the meeting would continue at a neighbouring room with a large part of participants while another disputed chair decided to continue the meeting at the original premises with rest of the participants. [12]
Finnish People First took part in the 2019 parliamentary election. During the campaign the party displayed campaign ads that the police investigated for criminal content. [13] No candidates were elected. [14]
Finnish People First was extreme nationalist and anti-immigration. [15] [6] It opposed Finland's membership in the European Union and the Eurozone, and would return to its former currency, the Finnish markka. [16] The party opposed NATO and what it called "harmful immigration" and "Islamization". [6] The party has been described as far-right, [17] although the way it described its position on the left–right political spectrum was ambiguous. [16]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 2,366 | 0.08 | 0 / 200
|
New | Extra-parliamentary |
2023 | 1,229 | 0.04 | 0 / 200
|
0 | Extra-parliamentary |
Election | Votes | % | Seats |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | 197 | 0.0 | 0 |
Finnish People First Suomen Kansa Ensin | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | SKE |
Chairperson | Riikka Salmi |
Secretary | Ari Lindström |
Vice chairperson | Kari Sunell |
Founded | 2018 |
Dissolved | 2023 |
Split from | Suomi Ensin |
Headquarters | Tampere, Finland |
Ideology |
Finnish nationalism Euroscepticism Anti-immigration Anti- Islamization |
Political position | Far-right |
Parliament of Finland | 0 / 200 |
Website | |
skepuolue | |
Finnish People First [1] ( Finnish: Suomen Kansa Ensin, SKE [2]) was a nationalist political party in Finland. It was founded in 2018 [3] and de-registered in 2023 after failing to win seats in two consecutive parliamentary elections. [4] In July 2023, the party filed for bankruptcy and announced its dissolution. [5]
Finnish People First originated from the Suomi Ensin ("Finland First") movement that organized a protest camp in central Helsinki in the spring of 2017. [6] [7] The movement was led by Marco de Wit, [6] a YouTuber from Tampere. [8] [6] The movement splintered into numerous competing factions, one of which evolved into Finnish People First, [6] also led by de Wit. [9] It was registered as an association in November 2017. [10] The association had collected the required 5,000 supporter cards by October 2018, and was admitted to the party register in December that year. [6] Soon after, the party descended into internal strife. A party conference was convened to address the issue, but only resulted in furthering the divides. The conference re-elected Marco De Wit as the party chairman, but some members of the party contested the validity of the conference. [11] Another conference in November 2019 also brought up divisions within the party, when a group of members voted a new chair at a meeting, and after the meeting was partly evicted from the premises by security, the disputed new chair decided the meeting would continue at a neighbouring room with a large part of participants while another disputed chair decided to continue the meeting at the original premises with rest of the participants. [12]
Finnish People First took part in the 2019 parliamentary election. During the campaign the party displayed campaign ads that the police investigated for criminal content. [13] No candidates were elected. [14]
Finnish People First was extreme nationalist and anti-immigration. [15] [6] It opposed Finland's membership in the European Union and the Eurozone, and would return to its former currency, the Finnish markka. [16] The party opposed NATO and what it called "harmful immigration" and "Islamization". [6] The party has been described as far-right, [17] although the way it described its position on the left–right political spectrum was ambiguous. [16]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 2,366 | 0.08 | 0 / 200
|
New | Extra-parliamentary |
2023 | 1,229 | 0.04 | 0 / 200
|
0 | Extra-parliamentary |
Election | Votes | % | Seats |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | 197 | 0.0 | 0 |