The party For the Poor participated in the Finnish parliamentary elections, the
European Union parliamentary elections and the regional council elections in
Kainuu. In the parliamentary elections of 2003 the party only registered candidates in the
Uusimaa electoral district, where the 26 candidates of the party gathered a total of 0.3% of the votes. In the parliamentary elections of 2007 the party had a total of 10 candidates from the electoral districts of
Helsinki,
Lapland,
Oulu,
Northern Savonia and Uusimaa. In the Helsinki and Oulu districts the party had an alliance with the Christian Democrats. In Lapland the party had an alliance with the True Finns and the
Independence Party, in Northern Savonia only with the Independence Party. In the European Union parliamentary elections of 2004 the party registered a full number of 20 candidates. The party's electoral themes included stopping the European Union from becoming a union state and the introduction of the
Tobin tax. The party also participated in the
Finnish elections for the European Parliament in summer 2009. In the municipal elections of 2004, For the Poor registered a total of 11 candidates in Helsinki,
Suomussalmi and
Vantaa. The chairperson Terttu Savola was among the list of
Independents in Espoo candidates. None of the candidates were elected. The party was denied access to the
Yleisradio electoral debate, and it filed a complaint about discrimination to the
justice representative. In the 2008 elections the party had 18 candidates in three municipalities. Savola was elected to the city council of Espoo. The success was due to an alliance with the True Finns. The huge popularity of
Timo Soini also brought Savola to the council, although For the Poor only received 0.3% of the vote. In the
2006 presidential election chairperson Savola supported
Sauli Niinistö. The incumbent president
Tarja Halonen did not, according to Savola, adequately address the plight of the Finnish poor. However, Savola did make it clear that the party members can freely choose their own candidates. In the Kainuu regional elections For the Poor received 45 votes (0.1%) in 2004 and 30 votes (0.1%) in 2008. ==References==