EDITORIAL: Social Democrats steamrollered in Helsinki region

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The speech by the Chairman of the Social Democrats Jutta Urpilainen about the party's "defensive victory" in Sunday's municipal elections does not hold true in the least for the Greater Helsinki region.
      The SDP dreams flew away like a red election balloon into a bright blue sky.
     
The results in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa represented a crushing defeat for the Social Democrat camp.
      The losses incurred in voter-share were in the region of 5%-points in all three of the large cities.
      In Vantaa, the SDP lost the position of largest grouping on the council to the conservatives of the National Coalition Party. In Helsinki and Espoo, the Greens climbed over the Social Democrats to seize second place, while the National Coalition remained the clear leaders of the pack.
      To make matters worse, the NCP pushed ahead of the Social Democrats in nearby communities strung out along the main railway line north, such as Järvenpää, Kerava, and Hyvinkää [see map].
     
In the capital, the SDP failed to cross the credibility threshold in their attempts to rein in the Greens with green election themes.
      The traditional emphasis on preserving basic public sector services did not win over the voters. The party had some young candidates on offer, but they were not matched by young voters to anything like the same degree.
     
The campaigning of the True Finns, built around the imposing figure of their chairman Timo Soini, proved successful in Espoo, Vantaa, and Helsinki alike - the party did not put up any candidates at all in the wealthy enclave of Kauniainen.
      In Soini's home town of Espoo, the True Finns' surge appears to have drained votes even from the National Coalition Party, who saw their share drop marginally.
      In Eastern Helsinki and in Vantaa, the True Finns netted votes in large numbers from the traditional fishing grounds of the left. In the suburb of Jakomäki, for instance, there was one polling station in which the new force on the block collected one vote in four.
     
It is worth noting that the support for the Centre Party - which has sought for decades to get a foothold in the Helsinki region - fell short of that for the True Finns in all three of the big metro area cities.
      The garden city ideology of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) did not give a lift to his party, whereas the views of his most voluble opponents Jan Vapaavuori (National Coalition Party) and Osmo Soininvaara (Greens) were rewarded with an avalanche of votes.
     
Even though the shifts in the political balance in the Greater Helsinki area are dramatic, this is not to say that life in the cities is going to change overnight.
      The administrative machinery will grind things forward. City boards and committees will be populated according to the proportional representation of the election result.
      In municipal politics there is no demarcation line between government and opposition as exists on the national stage.
     
One of the problems facing the True Finns will be the weakness of the party's organisational machinery.
      Hence they will find it difficult to round up competent representatives to take the committee, board, and other seats they are offered.
      In Espoo, the Soini message has at every opportunity included objecting to the construction of a Western Metro extension and lamenting the selling off of the city's electrical utility.
      These are not the sort of ingredients from which to build a metropolitan area policy line for the party, which would be sorely needed.
     
Of the winning parties, the Greens do pursue regional questions with some vigour, as has been shown for instance in their stressing of the significance of public transport.
      However, the Greens in the different cities often think very differently from one another on questions concerning the capital district as a whole.
      Unanimity of purpose is equally in relatively short supply among the NCP conservatives and Social Democrats in the three large communities.
     
The election result in Vantaa will mean that the next mayor or municipal manager will come from the National Coalition Party.
      Prior to the elections, the NCP in Vantaa were tentatively putting forward the idea of a merger with Helsinki, while the Social Democrats were in favour of an independent Vantaa.
      It could be that the talk of merging the two cities could take wing quite quickly.
     
The consultant butting in to the discussion of the structure of the local area will be the economic slowdown in prospect, the length and depth of which is still anyone's guess.
      The four-year council term now coming to an end has been a halcyon time in the Helsinki region, meaning that there has been room for some flowery talk on all sides.
      The future looks darker.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.10.2008


Previously in HS International Edition:
  MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS, SUNDAY 23:45: National Coalition Party largest party, True Finns big winners, gains for Greens (26.10.2008)

See also:
  EDITORIAL: National Coalition make history by overtaking SDP and Centre (27.10.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat