1918–1939 The National Coalition Party was founded on 9 December 1918 after the
Finnish Civil War by the majority of the
Finnish Party and the minority of the
Young Finnish Party, both supporting
Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse as the
King of Finland in the new monarchy. With over 600 representatives, the foundational meeting of NCP declared the following: A national coalition is needed over old party lines that have lost meaning and have too long separated similarly thinking citizens. This coalition's grand task must be to work to strengthen in our nation the forces that maintain society. Lawful societal order must be strictly upheld and there must be no compromise with revolutionary aspirations. But simultaneously, determined constructive reform work must be pursued." The party sought to accomplish their task by advocating for
constitutional monarchy and, failing that, strong governmental powers within a republican framework. On the other hand, their goal was to implement a number of social and economic reforms, such as
compulsory education,
universal health care, and progressive income and property taxation. The monarchist aims failed and Finland became a parliamentary republic—in which the NCP advocated for strong presidential powers. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the fear of
Joseph Stalin's communist
Soviet Union influenced Finnish politics. The
Communists, backed by the
Soviet leaders, accelerated their activities while the ideological position of the National Coalition Party shifted over to very conservative. The new ideology was poorly received, particularly by the youth, attracting instead more
irredentist and
fascist movements, such as the
Academic Karelia Society or
Patriotic People's Movement.
1939–2000 During the Winter War and the
Continuation War in 1939–1944, the party took part in the war-time
national unity governments and generally had strong support for its government policies. After the wars, the National Coalition Party sought to portray itself as a defender of democracy against the resurgent Finnish communists. Chair Paasikivi, who had advocated making more concessions to Soviet Union before the Winter War and taken a cautious line regarding cooperation with Germany before the Continuation War, acted first as
Prime Minister of Finland (1944–1946) and then as President (1946–1956) of Finland. Paasikivi is remembered as the formulator of
Finnish foreign policy after
World War II. The conflict between the NCP and the communist
Finnish People's Democratic League culminated when President Paasikivi fired the communist Minister of the Interior
Yrjö Leino, who had used the
State Police to spy on the party's youth wing among other abuses. In 1951, the party changed its official name from the original '
to the current '. The 1950s were also a time of ideological shifts, as the emphasis on
individual liberty and
free market reforms increased at the expense of
social conservatism and maintenance of a strong government. A minor division in 1958 led to the formation of the
Christian Democrats party. From 1966 to 1987, the party was in the opposition. By criticizing Finnish communists and President
Urho Kekkonen of the Centre Party, the party had lost the President's trust—and thus governments formed by the Centre Party and left-wing parties followed one another. A new guard emerged within the NCP in the 1970s that sought to improve relations with long-serving President Kekkonen. Their work was partially successful in the late 1970s. However, even though the NCP supported Kekkonen for president in 1978 and became the second largest party in the country in the
1979 parliamentary election, a spot in the government continued to elude the NCP until the end of Kekkonen's time in office. In the
2007 parliamentary election, the party increased its share to 50 seats in the largest gain of the election. The party held a close second place in Parliament, shy of the Centre Party and its 51 seats. After the election, the party entered into a coalition government together with the Centre Party, the Green League, and the
Swedish People's Party. The NCP secured important ministerial portfolios, including
finance and
foreign affairs. In the 2011 parliamentary election, the party finished first place for the first time in its history with 44 seats, despite losing six seats, and party chair Jyrki Katainen formed his
cabinet as a six-party
coalition government from parties on the left and on the right after lengthy negotiations. The National Coalition Party's candidate in the
2006 Finnish presidential election was former
minister of finance and former party chair
Sauli Niinistö. He qualified for the second round runoff as one of the top two candidates in the first round but was defeated by the incumbent
Tarja Halonen with 51.8% of the vote against his 48.2%. The party nominated Sauli Niinistö again for the
presidential election of 2012. Niinistö won the election, beating his Green League opponent
Pekka Haavisto decisively on the second round with a 62.6% portion of the votes, and thus becoming the third president elected from the party and the first one since 1956. Niinistö's margin of victory was larger than that of any previous directly elected president in Finland. He won a majority in 14 of
the country's 15 electoral districts. Niinistö is described as a pragmatical fiscal conservative and a pro-European who supports the restraint of
bailouts to partner countries. Upon taking office, Niinistö intended to strengthen interaction with the United States and China and maintain good relations with Russia as well as address the
European debt crisis. In 2014, Katainen stepped down as party chair and Prime Minister of Finland for a
vice-presidential position in the
European Commission. Katainen was replaced by
Alexander Stubb as chair of the National Coalition Party in the
June 2014 leadership election and thus became the prime minister. Katainen's cabinet was likewise succeeded by the
Stubb Cabinet on 23 June 2014. After the election, National Coalition joined a right-leaning majority coalition consisting of the three largest parties – the Centre Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party. During his term, Stubb faced growing criticism for the NCP's poor poll results, the declining economy as well as compromises in the three-party government. After two years as party chair, Stubb was voted by 361 to 441 to be replaced by Petteri Orpo at the
leadership election of June 2016. After the
2019 election, it became the third-largest party in the Finnish Parliament, behind the Social Democrats and the
Finns Party, and became the second-largest opposition party after being excluded from the
Rinne Cabinet. Following the
2023 general election, it became the largest party with 48 seats. As a result, its leader
Petteri Orpo started forming a coalition government. The
Orpo Cabinet was sworn into office on 20 June 2023, a NCP-led coalition with the
Finns Party,
Christian Democrats and
Swedish People's Party of Finland. In February 2024, National Coalition Party candidate Alexander Stubb was elected as Finland's next president. In the second round of the
election he beat Pekka Haavisto, a green running as an independent, by 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent. ==Ideology and political position==