1962 Finnish presidential election

← 1956

15–16 January 1962

1968 →


Candidate	Urho Kekkonen	Paavo Aitio	Rafael Paasio
Party	Agrarian	SKDL	SDP
Electoral vote	199	62	37
Popular vote	1,394,886	451,750	289,366

President before election

Urho Kekkonen
Agrarian

Elected President

Urho Kekkonen
Agrarian

Politics of Finland


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v t e

Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1962. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won on the first ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was 81.5%.

Background

Since Kekkonen's extremely narrow victory in the 1956 Finnish presidential elections, his political opponents had planned to defeat him in the election of 1962.

In the spring of 1961, the Social Democrats, National Coalition Party, Swedish People's Party, People's Party, Small Farmers' Party and the Liberal League nominated former Chancellor of Justice Olavi Honka as their presidential candidate.

The Honka League's goal was to receive a majority of the 300 presidential electors, and thus defeat President Kekkonen.

At the end of October 1961, the Soviet government sent a diplomatic note to the Finnish Government, claiming that neo-fascism and militarism were growing so much in West Germany that Finland and the Soviet Union were in danger of being attacked by that country or by some other NATO member states.

Thus the Soviet Union asked Finland to negotiate on possible joint military co-operation under the Finno-Soviet Treaty articles.

The Note Crisis alarmed many Finnish people, politicians and ordinary voters alike. In late November 1961, Honka dropped his presidential candidacy. Kekkonen then travelled to the Soviet Union where the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, briefly negotiated with him and assured the audience in Novosibirsk that Finland and the Soviet Union continued to have good relations, although some Finns tried to worsen them, and that joint military exercises were not needed, after all.

Following the Note Crisis, Kekkonen's popularity soared, as many Finnish voters believed him to be more capable than his opponents of defending Finland's neutrality and security. Kekkonen was easily re-elected President

Results

Popular vote


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	Electoral Union of Urho Kekkonen		Agrarian League	698,199	31.70	111
			People's Party	165,489	7.51	21
			Swedish People's Party	35,599	1.62	6
			Others	75,961	3.45	7
		Total		975,248	44.29	145
	Electoral Union of KOK and KP		National Coalition Party	288,912	13.12	37
			People's Party	11,087	0.50	1
			Liberal League	7,898	0.36	1
		Total		307,897	13.98	39
	Finnish People's Democratic League			451,750	20.51	63
	Social Democratic Party			289,366	13.14	36
	Swedish People's Party			111,741	5.07	15
	Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders			66,166	3.00	2
	Others			36	0.00	0
Total				2,202,204	100.00	300

Valid votes				2,202,204	99.58
Invalid/blank votes				9,237	0.42
Total votes				2,211,441	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				2,714,883	81.46
Source: Nohln & Stöver

Electoral college


Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Urho Kekkonen	Agrarian League	199	66.33
	Paavo Aitio	Finnish People's Democratic League	62	20.67
	Rafael Paasio	Social Democratic Party	37	12.33
	Emil Skog	Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders	2	0.67
Total			300	100.00

Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p606 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p630
Nohlen & Stöver, p624
Vihavainen, Timo (1987). Hyvinvointi-Suomi, osio teoksesta Suomen historian Pikkujättiläinen (in Finnish). Porvoo: WSOY. pp. 840–842.
Virrankoski, Pentti. Suomen historia (in Finnish). Porvoo: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. pp. 957–959.
Hannu Rautkallio (1992). Novosibirskin lavastus (in Finnish). Helsinki: Tammi.

v t e Elections and referendums in Finland
Parliamentary elections	1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1922 1924 1927 1929 1930 1933 1936 1939 1945 1948 1951 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1972 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Municipal elections	1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1928 1930 1933 1936 1945 1947 1950 1953 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2017 2021 2025
County elections	2022 2025
Presidential elections	(1919) 1925 1931 1937 (1940) (1943) (1946) 1950 1956 1962 1968 1978 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1996 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Sámi elections	1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Referendums	1931 1994
Elections in brackets were not public elections

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