Social Democratic MPs ponder implications of election setback

Many traditional SDP voters defect to left or right, while others abstain

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Social Democratic Members of Parliament held a brainstorming session on Thursday where they pondered dozens, if not hundreds of possible reasons for the setback that their party suffered in last month's Parliamentary elections.
      No formal conclusions were drawn; the Social Democratic MPs focused on airing their experiences and their disappointments during more than three hours of collective soul-searching.
      Many of the parliamentarians agreed with the observation that the party should have held Erkki Tuomioja, the popular outgoing Minister for Foreign Affairs, more in the public eye during the election campaign, alongside the party's chairman, outgoing Finance Minister Eero Heinäluoma. Critics said that a more conspicuous role for Tuomioja would have helped avoid giving the impression that Heinäluoma and Tuomioja were rivals of sorts.
      Participants in the meeting were presented with the results of a study which showed that the SDP lost votes both to the left and right, and especially to the ranks of the non-voters.
      Social Democrats from the Kymeenlaakso region in the southeast, normally an SDP stronghold, were dismayed to learn that the party had lost a sizeable proportion of their votes to the right-wing populist True Finns.
      It was also pointed out that the conservative National Coalition Party managed to secure its election victory by using what were seen as Social Democratic themes.
      One of the conclusions drawn from all of this was that the SDP primarily lost the battle of perceptions; the party, which has been in government for more than ten years, did not sound very credible in its calls for reform.
     
Another conclusion was that the party should not try to move toward the left or the right. Heinäluoma, and Parliamentary group chairwoman Tarja Filatov said that the SDP needs to come "closer to people's everyday lives and future". However, they did not specify how this was to be achieved.
     
MP Liisa Jaakonsaari brought up a paper written by a group of young Social Democrats in the Töölö region of Helsinki, in which the party is pushed toward the centre.
      The meeting also listened intently to the new MP Ilkka Kantola, who complained that instead of listening to people, the party expects people to listen to the party.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Social Democratic MPs snub party chairman Heinäluoma (23.3.2007)
  Foreign Minister Tuomioja demands greater SDP self-criticism (22.3.2007)
  SDP sets up committee to analyse causes of election defeat (21.3.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat