The National Coalition Party (Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus, Kok.; Swedish: Samlingspartiet, Saml.) is a liberal and conservativepolitical party in Finland.

Founded in 1918, the National Coalition Party is one of the four largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party, the Finns Party and the Centre Party. The party bases its politics on "individual freedom and responsibility, equality, Western democracy and economic system, humane principles and caring." The party is strongly pro-European and is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

Its vote share has been around 20% in parliamentary elections in the 1990s and 2000s. It won 44 out of 200 seats in the parliamentary elections of 2011, becoming the largest party in the Finnish parliament for the first time in its history. On the municipal level, it became the most popular party in 2008 and has retained that position. In the 2015 election the NCP lost its status as the country's largest party, as they finished second in votes and third in seats. Regardless, the party again joined the government coalition.

The National Coalition Party (Spanish: Partido de Concertación Nacional, PCN) is a conservative political party in El Salvador. Until 2011 it was known as the National Conciliation Party (Spanish: Partido de Conciliación Nacional, PCN). It was the most powerful political party in the country during the 1960s and 1970s, and was closely associated with the Salvadoran military. Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo, a candidate of the National Conciliation Party, was elected president in 1962, and the next three presidents were also from the party. After the 1979 revolution the party declined in influence but continued to exist.

History

2000-Currently

Today, it is considered relatively minor as compared with the two major organizations, ARENA and the FMLN.

At the legislative elections, held on 16 March 2003, the party won 13.0% of the popular vote and 16 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Its candidate in the presidential election of 21 March 2004, José Rafael Machuca Zelaya, won 2.7%. In the 12 March 2006 legislative election, the party won 11.0% of the popular vote and 10 out of 84 seats, a major decline in representation, but the party is still the third largest political party in El Salvador. At the January 18, 2009 legislative elections the party won 11 seats.

Finland (ⁱ/ˈfɪnlənd/; Finnish: Suomi [suomi]; Swedish: Finland [ˈfɪnland]), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, a peninsula with Gulf of Finland to the south and Gulf of Bothnia to the west. It has land borders with Sweden and Norway to the north and Russia to the east. Finland is part of the geographic region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia and parts of Russia.

Finland's population is 5.5 million (2014), staying roughly on the same level with only about 9% increase in 24 years since the last economic depression in 1990. The majority live in the southern regions. The single largest group of foreigners living in Finland are Russians and Estonians, 36% of all of the foreigners (2014). In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 317 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which produces a third of the country's GDP. Other large cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti, and Kuopio.

"Finland" is a Monty Python comedy song written and performed by Michael Palin and arranged by John Du Prez with a guitar accompaniment. It features on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980, is also included on the CD Monty Python Sings, and was incorporated into the musical Spamalot.

It purports to be a celebration of Finland, a country that is overlooked when travelling abroad as "a poor second to Belgium", despite the fact that it "has it all" with lofty mountains and tall trees and pleasures including: pony trekking, camping or "just watching TV". In reality "mountains so lofty" are not characteristic of Finland as the Scandinavian Mountains only just touch the northwesternmost corner of the country.

Palin gave an impromptu rendition of the song while travelling through Finland for the 1992 travel documentary Pole to Pole.

References

In European elections, Finland is a constituency of the European Parliament, currently represented by thirteen MEPs. It covers the member state of Finland.

2014 election

The 2014 European election was the eight election to the European Parliament. Finland's representation remained at 13 MEPs.

2009 election

The 2009 European election was the seventh election to the European Parliament. The number of seats was decreased to thirteen.

MEPs 2009-2014

At the end of the Seventh European Parliament:

2004 election

The 2004 European election was the sixth election to the European Parliament.

Both the Finnish Social Democratic Party and the Finnish Centre Party improved their vote at the expense of the conservative National Coalition Party and the Greens.

1999 election

The 1999 European election was the fifth election to the European Parliament.

1996 election

This was the first European election in Finland.

References

External links