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Citizens' Party (Finland)
Political party in Finland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Citizens' Party (Finnish: Kansalaispuolue, Swedish: Medborgarpartiet) was a Finnish political party, founded in 2016.[1] It was founded by the long-time Centre Party politician and MEP Paavo Väyrynen, who left Centre in early 2016.[2] Väyrynen acted as the first chairman of the party until July 2017, when he was succeeded by Sami Kilpeläinen.[3]
Citizens' Party | |
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Finnish name | Kansalaispuolue |
Swedish name | Medborgarpartiet |
Abbreviation | KP |
Chairman | Sami Kilpeläinen |
Founded | 2016 (2016) |
Dissolved | 2022 |
Split from | Centre Party |
Merged into | Christian Democrats (de facto) |
Ideology | Euroscepticism |
Political position | Centre |
Website | |
kansalaispuolue![]() | |
The party did not take part in the 2017 municipal elections, although Väyrynen was elected to the City Council of Helsinki as an independent candidate.[4] Väyrynen also participated in the 2018 presidential election as an independent candidate, finishing fourth with 6.2 percent of the votes.[5]
In March 2018, Citizens' Party expelled Väyrynen from the party, due to his alleged misdeeds with the campaign funding during the presidential elections.[6] Väyrynen denied the allegations and instead started a court case against the activities of the board of the party.[7] While the court case was still ongoing, Väyrynen founded a Citizens' Party's parliamentary group, intending to represent the party within the parliament.[8]
In November 2018, the District Court of Helsinki deemed void the majority of decisions made by the party board, including the decision to expel Väyrynen.[9] Chairman Sami Kilpeläinen soon announced that they would appeal against the decision while preparing for the 2019 parliamentary election as usual.[10] The decision promoted Väyrynen to abandon the Citizens' Party's parliamentary group in favor of that of his Seven Star Movement.[11] In April 2019, Citizens' Party and Väyrynen settled their differences.[12]
Citizens' Party took part in the 2019 parliamentary election, but none of its candidates were elected.[13] The party was dissolved in August 2022, and its active members were transferred to the Christian Democrats.[14]