National Coalition Party seeks 24 percent share in parliamentary elections

Chairman Jyrki Katainen blasts Social Democrats' "scare tactics" during presidential race

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National Coalition Party chairman Jyrki Katainen set a 24 percent share of the vote as his party's goal in next year's Parliamentary election, a proportion that he hopes would bring 51 seats in Finland's 200-member Eduskunta.
      Katainen spoke on a morning television interview programme on Saturday, and later in the day, at a meeting of the National Coalition Party Council.
      Members of the party council felt that the goal would be a realistic one, in the light of the strong showing the party made in the presidential elections. The National Coalition Party hopes to become Finland's largest political party.
     
The party could go back to the workers' theme that it had in the presidential elections, when its candidate, Sauli Niinistö, said that he hoped to be a "workers' president". According to Party Secretary Harri Jaskari, the slogan proved to be a successful one.
      Studies showed that it awakened interest, and next autumn, the Swedish counterpart of the Finnish party plans to copy the theme.
      Katainen and the party council heaped praise on those who worked on behalf of Sauli Niinistö's campaign.
      As for what parties the National Coalition Party would be willing to accept as partners in a government, Katainen said that cooperation with either the Centre Party or the Social Democrats would be possible, although given some of the events surrounding the presidential election campaign, the option of cooperation with the Centre Party seems more likely than before.
      "The election result, and common goals, will nevertheless decide the next government", he said.
     
Katainen will be the National Coalition Party's Prime Ministerial candidate, if the party's congress this year chooses to keep him at the helm.
      As Katainen sees it, the National Coalition Party now has an exceptionally strong base for success in the coming election. The party's membership is growing. He praised the activists of his own party for the confident campaign in the second round of the presidential election, and denounced the Social Democratic Party for using threats and intimidation.
      During the last municipal elections, Paavo Lipponen, who was the chairman of the SDP at the time, warned that the National Coalition Party would throw grandmothers into the snow, and would outsource more municipal services and cut municipal employees. In the presidential election, the SDP, backed by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), tried to frighten the electorate with aspects of security policy, Katainen said.
      On the basis of recent discussions, Katainen is fairly sure that there will be attempts to frighten people in the upcoming elections as well. He also said that the NATO question would be a certain theme for the scaremongers.
     
Katainen came out in favour of a proposal by the SDP's current chairman Eero Heinäluoma for the establishment of a parliamentary security policy working group next spring, to prepare the basic framework for the next foreign and security policy report.
      Big questions for the future include EU security policy, relations between the EU and NATO, and Finland's relationship with NATO.
      He also said that the biggest challenge facing the welfare society is the municipal and service structure reform, which he expects the Centre Party to use in its efforts to frighten people from voting for the National Coalition Party.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  COMMENTARY: Finnish Presidential election had two winners (30.1.2006)

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