[Change the Election]⑧ 'Political Advanced Country' Finland Elects Members of Parliament by Proportional Representation

Interview with Seohyeon Su, Assistant Professor at Korea National University of Education
Election by Open Party-List Proportional Representation System
Coalition Government, Ministerial Positions Allocated According to Vote Share

"In Finnish elections, a party that obtains just 5% of the vote share can be allocated about 10 seats out of the 200 seats in the parliament and can also participate in government formation."

Seohyeon Su, an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Education Policy at Korea National University of Education, recently said in an interview with Asia Economy, "In our country, we are accustomed to a power distribution system centered on a president or a single leader, but Nordic countries are not like that," explaining this point.

Professor Seo is the first Korean with a doctorate in social sciences who graduated from a Finnish higher education institution. He graduated from the Department of Political Science at Seoul National University and received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Tampere University in Finland. His academic papers include 'Characteristics and Implications of the Finnish Constitutional Reform Model: Reconstruction of Parliament-Executive Relations and Parliament-Citizen Relations (2018),' and he published the book 'Parliament, Citizens, and Democracy in Finland (2019).'

Finland elects members of parliament through an open party-list proportional representation system. Voters can choose a party or select candidates from the candidate lists prepared by parties. Only the ?land region, which is allocated one seat as an autonomous district, uses a single-member district system, while most areas, including the capital Helsinki, adopt a large electoral district system (13 districts, electing 7 to 36 members).

Seohyeon Su, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Educational Policy, Korea National University of Education. (Provided by the individual)

Except for one single-member district, large electoral districts... 8 to 9 parties in parliament

Professor Seo said, "There are about 8 to 9 parties in parliament, but there are actually more parties," adding, "Proportional representation has the effect of allowing various parties to enter parliament." He added, "Some European countries like Germany have threshold clauses requiring more than 5% of the vote share to gain seats, but in Finland, even 1% can be allocated seats."

Finland, which has adopted this electoral system, is evaluated as a country implementing advanced democracy in various indicators. According to the '2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)' released by Transparency International (TI), Finland ranked joint 2nd (with New Zealand) in national integrity among 180 evaluated countries. South Korea ranked 31st in the same survey. In the World Democracy Index evaluation (2022) released last month by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in the UK, Finland scored 9.29 points, showing a narrow gap with Norway, which ranked first with 9.81 points. South Korea ranked 24th with 8.03 points.

Professor Seo pointed out, "In our country, the DJP (Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil) coalition government was a rare case of a cohabitation government," adding, "Other than that, we have not advanced to coalition governments, so the concept of coalition politics among parties is poor and rare." He further explained that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration also only unified parties despite multiple factions coming together.

In Finland, the party with even one more seat becomes the first party. The leader of the first party becomes the likely prime minister candidate and is granted the right to lead government formation. The first party attempts official and unofficial contacts with other parties to form a government. Professor Seo explained, "The first party leader sequentially explains the party's pledges to each party and asks for opinions on key agendas, requesting submission of opinion statements," adding, "Although the pledges are already known, each party negotiates overnight to decide how far to demand when the new government is formed, how much to agree on budget increases and cuts, and other sensitive issues."

The first party attempts negotiations by changing parties in order of vote share. The first party needs to form a coalition with the second-largest party to facilitate government operation. Professor Seo said, "The goal of the first party is to form a majority government to easily pass bills and budgets in parliament." The period is about two months, similar to the operation period of the presidential transition committee in our country.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

The ministerial positions assigned to parties are also determined according to the election vote share. Professor Seo explained, "The first party does not arbitrarily decide the positions but allocates ministerial posts as close as possible in proportion to the vote share," adding, "This is because the voters' preferences must be reflected as much as possible."

After all these processes are completed, a very detailed agreement is made on the 'government policy program' conducted by each ministry. This document is approved when the prime minister and cabinet ministers are elected in parliament. Professor Seo said, "There can be conflicts and cracks between coalition parties, and some adjustments may occur, but the initially agreed government policy program is prioritized," adding, "Every Wednesday evening, there is an unofficial coordination meeting of ministers, called the night school, where no minutes are kept, and some further adjustments are made then."

Would the government formation period become too long if such coordination processes do not go smoothly? Professor Seo said, "Priority is given to the first party leader, but if it is judged that there is no prospect, the authority passes to the second party leader," adding, "If the parliament continues as an interim government, a new election is held to change the power distribution." He said that in Finland, election campaigns are simple, with booths set up in squares or markets and only party leader speeches and debates conducted, so costs are not high.

Professor Seo said, "Korea is evaluated as a country operating a very extreme majoritarian democracy," adding, "The combination of a single five-year presidential term without a runoff and a single-member district-biased general election system has led to distorted representation and greatly increased distrust in politics." He analyzed, "Attempts at political reform have spread into satellite party controversies, worsening the problem, and even the generation that led the democratization movement is not accustomed to power sharing."

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Professor Seo also argued that Korean politics "has a low understanding of democracy that progresses through negotiation, compromise, and agreed advancement, so various groups are not represented in the political arena." Since the single-member district system elects only one person per district, it gives more opportunities to elite groups already rich in economic and social capital. He cited middle-aged male legal professionals from prestigious universities in Seoul in their 50s and 60s as a representative example.

In Finland, one can serve as a local councilor while also being a member of parliament. Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who became the youngest prime minister at age 34, is serving as prime minister while also being a local councilor in Tampere. Although Prime Minister Marin was noted as a young female politician, she had been active as a local councilor since her early 20s, so in Finland, there is no view of her as a political novice. Professor Seo emphasized, "Local governments are also operated as coalition governments and adopt full proportional representation, so various political and social forces can be more represented in political decision-making," adding, "Someday, we can say that democracy is properly practiced only when the electoral system is improved."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.