Expert claims local election setback puts Greens at normal level

Professor Martikainen speaks of "bursting of bubble"

print this

According to an eminent Finnish political scientist, the electoral setback experienced by the Green League in Sunday’s municipal elections has brought the party back to a normal level of support.
      In the view of Professor Emeritus Tuomo Martikainen, a "bubble of support" which emerged in the form of a massive victory for the Greens in 2000, has now burst. The result of the elections was a boost for the Social Democrats.
      Professor Matikainen notes that since the 1960s, support for the Social Democratic Party in Helsinki has fluctuated very little. The SDP had a dip in support in the elections four years ago, which helped the Greens. Now the Social Democrats regained their "normal" position at the Greens’ expense.
     
Social scientist Dr. Erkki Karvonen of the University of Tampere, who is an expert on images, thinks that it is interesting that the Social Democrats were able to "provoke a debate on welfare", which helped activate their voters.
      In his view the Greens did not have an agenda of their own.
      The Greens have also been linked with mental images that have been formed on the basis of a few isolated incidents. Revelations of cannabis use by certain Green figures, and a recent case when a member of the Helsinki City Council had shown up at a meeting after having a couple of beers too many, have received extensive media coverage, and been the topic of jokes in entertainment programmes on television.
      Dr. Karvonen says that journalists go back to the same events again and again, establishing an image of the party that is more "freakish" than that of most representatives of, say, the National Coalition Party. "It is a mythology that is repeated again and again. It is naturally awkward from the Greens’ point of view. Perhaps young people do not mind so much, but perhaps older ones do." 


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Social Democrats emerge on top in municipal elections (25.10.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat