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1978 Finnish presidential election

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Field	Value
country	Finland
type	presidential
previous_election	1968 Finnish presidential election
previous_year	1968
next_election	1982 Finnish presidential election
next_year	1982
election_date	15–16 January 1978
image1	Urho-Kekkonen-1977 (cropped).jpg
candidate1	Urho Kekkonen
party1	Centre Party (Finland)
popular_vote1	2,017,631
electoral_vote1	259
image2	Raino-Westerholm-1977 (cropped).jpg
candidate2	Raino Westerholm
party2	Christian League
popular_vote2	215,244
electoral_vote2	25
image4	Veikkovennamo1988 (cropped).jpg
candidate4	Veikko Vennamo
party4	Finnish Rural Party
popular_vote4	114,488
electoral_vote4	10
image5
candidate5	Ahti M. Salonen
party5	CPP
popular_vote5	82,478
electoral_vote5	6
title	President
before_election	Urho Kekkonen
before_party	Centre Party (Finland)
after_election	Urho Kekkonen
after_party	Centre Party (Finland)

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. The public elected presidential electors to an electoral college on 15 and 16 January. 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.

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.

Results

Popular vote

Electoral college

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p630 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p606
The turnout for the popular vote was 64%.Nohlen & Stöver, p624
Timo Vihavainen (2003) "The Welfare Finland" (Hyvinvointi-Suomi), pp883–884 in Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., ''A Small Giant of the Finnish History'', WSOY
Pentti Virrankoski (2009) ''A History of Finland'', Finnish Literature Society, p963
Aarno Laitinen et al., eds. (1981) ''Tamminiemi's Inheritance Dividers'', Journalists Ltd
Seeger, Murray. (1 February 1978). "Finland's Kekkonen Seems Indispensable". Los Angeles Times.

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presidential-elections-in-finland 1978-elections-in-europe 1978-elections-in-finland january-1978-in-europe

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