1978 Finnish presidential election

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1978. They were the first elections since 1968, as Parliament had extended Urho Kekkonen's term by four years.^[1] The public elected presidential electors to an electoral college on 15 and 16 January.^[2] The electors, in turn assembled in Helsinki on 15 February to formally elect the President. Urho Kekkonen, president since 1956, was re-elected on the first ballot by the electors.^[1] The turnout for the popular vote was 64%.^[3]

1978 Finnish presidential election

← 1968 15–16 January 1978 1982 →

Candidate Urho Kekkonen Raino Westerholm Party Centre Christian League Electoral vote 259 25 Popular vote 2,017,631 215,244   CPP Candidate Veikko Vennamo Ahti M. Salonen Party Rural Party CPP Electoral vote 10 6 Popular vote 114,488 82,478

President before election Urho Kekkonen Centre Elected President Urho Kekkonen Centre

Kekkonen had agreed to become the Social Democratic presidential candidate in April 1975, and after that all the major Finnish political parties chose him as their candidate. Kekkonen's opponents, such as the Christian League's presidential candidate Raino Westerholm, claimed that Kekkonen's long presidency weakened Finnish democracy. Over one-third of Finnish voters abstained from voting, partly as a protest against Kekkonen's expected landslide victory.

The 77-year-old Kekkonen's health was already declining, although this was not easily noticeable in his public appearances.^[4][5][6][7]

Results

Popular vote

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	Supporters of Urho Kekkonen		Social Democratic Party	569,154	23.25	74
			Centre Party	475,372	19.42	64
			Finnish People's Democratic League	445,098	18.18	56
			National Coalition Party	360,310	14.72	45
			Swedish People's Party	88,054	3.60	12
			Liberals	71,232	2.91	8
			Åland Coalition	5,331	0.22	1
			Socialist Workers Party	2,187	0.09	0
			Private Entrepreneurs' Party [fi]	893	0.04	0
		Total		2,017,631	82.41	260
	Finnish Christian League			215,244	8.79	24
	Finnish Rural Party			114,488	4.68	10
	Constitutional People's Party			82,478	3.37	6
	Finnish People's Unity Party			18,543	0.76	0
Total				2,448,384	100.00	300
Valid votes				2,448,384	99.11
Invalid/blank votes				21,955	0.89
Total votes				2,470,339	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				3,844,279	64.26
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Electoral college

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Urho Kekkonen	Centre Party	259	86.33
	Raino Westerholm	Finnish Christian League	25	8.33
	Veikko Vennamo	Finnish Rural Party	10	3.33
	Ahti M. Salonen [fi]	Constitutional People's Party	6	2.00
Total			300	100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver