The problems of the center, which ran into difficulties during Juha Sipilä's term, are deep because people seek refuge from their plight at the extremes, writes HS's political reporter Teemu Luukka.
The center chairman Annika Saarikko40, announced on Thursdaythat he is no longer a candidate for party chairman at next summer's party meeting.
The announcement cannot be taken as a surprise. That's how deep the center has been during Saariko's presidency, which started in September 2020.
Saarikko said at the beginning of his term, at the press conference after his election, that the center aims for at least the result of 2017 in the 2021 municipal elections.
Even this first goal was not realized. Even at that time, however, the city center managed quite reasonably compared to the current situation. The support of the center dropped from 17.5 percent to 14.9 percent.
It was enough to leave Perussuomalaiset behind – a party that has since taken over small and slightly larger towns from the center village by village.
Saarikko did not turn out to be the desired miracle worker in the center. Before his election, many non-Kepu residents praised Saarikko as one of the most talented politicians of his era. Expectations were high.
In the center even reasonably good moments have been on the cards since the municipal elections in 2017, even though the party has often beaten the polls in the elections.
In HS's January support survey the center's support was only 10.1 percent. The popularity of basic Finns has a long way to go.
The fact that the center won the parliamentary elections with 21.1 percent of support just nine years ago in 2015 shows the wildly rapid decline of the center.
Centrist prime ministers have led Finland longer than the chairmen of any other party in the 21st century.
The center has been the prime minister's party for 12 years out of 24 years. In the same time period, the current prime minister's party, the coalition, has been content with less than five years as prime minister.
So it's no wonder that it took a long time for the city center to realize how miserable it is.
After all, it has been a persistent power party under a different name throughout Finland's independence. While in other parts of Europe the former agrarian parties have died down, the center has always risen, renewed and flourished.
But not this time, at least not yet.
The center the slide started even before Saariko's presidency.
Although Saarikko bears the heaviest responsibility for the failures of his own season, the central problem is not the quick-witted and quick-witted Saarikko.
If the party had been led by pretty much anyone, then in the current political climate, the center has not really had room when it has wanted to stay in the center. During Sipilä's time, it tried proper right-wing behavior, but it didn't go well.
Moderate centrist parties in the world are also doing poorly quite widely. People are attracted to extremes. As often happens when the future of humanity is foggy.
Island is quite liberal, and in theory the urban youth could also vote for him. However, there have been more attractive alternatives available to them, and they can often be found on the edges of the party field, in the Basic Finns and the Left Alliance.
The center by far the biggest collapse was already experienced by the chairman-prime minister Juha Sipilä during the government.
The support of the center was around 21 percent in the initial phase of Sipilä's government, but only 13.8 percent in the following parliamentary elections.
Chairmen after Sipilä Katri Kulmunin and during Saariko's time, support has continued to weaken.
The deep ranks of the center criticized Sipilä for the fact that during his term the party lost its identity.
The same self-inflicted loss of self continued when, in the final months of Sipilä, the center decided to join the Sdp-led government. It was a massive mistake for the party.
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The goal was to be profiled as a guardian of debt and debt discipline.
Soon Saarikko found himself in a government that dealt with exceptionally large crises.
The center did not understand that it was in a deep crisis, and in a crisis it does not improve by going to the government. It is difficult to renew the party from the government. Board responsibility limits the chairman's power of speech, and compromises easily dilute the party's profile.
The goal of the center was to be profiled as a guardian of peace and debt discipline.
Nothing came of it when the corona crisis hit with rescue packages worth billions of euros.
The center and the greens tried to increase their popularity by fighting in the government. As a result, both were lying on the canvas.
Sdp kept the government afloat partly with money, and the debt grew. The center seemed to be fighting against it, but the distribution policy suited it well as well, as long as it was distributed to the right addresses in the center's opinion.
Because of this, Saariko's current speeches about debt concerns do not really sound convincing. Renovating the center under Saariko's leadership would be difficult for this very reason.
Saarikko justified staying in the government by saying that it would be unpatriotic to leave the government during the corona crisis, the Russian war of aggression and the energy crisis.
In itself, a reasonable explanation did not bite. The
center's parliamentary group focused on bickering, tantrums and barking at the greens. At the same time, it challenged its chairman on one issue after another.
The temperance party started to look like an eternal loser. There were no takers on that sled.
Last in the spring of the year, the center finally got to the opposition to lick its wounds.
The center of Saariko has separated itself from the left-wing parties, but has also criticized the government for its inhumanity and stupid decisions. Support has not increased. Sipilä's time and being in left-wing governments weigh heavily.
Towards the end of the presidential election, the city center experienced something nice for a long time.
The center Olli Rehn got half a million votes in the elections with a fairly centrist, moderate line. It is more than the center received in the 2023 parliamentary elections.
Island said on Thursday at a press conference that among many centrist politicians the party can surely find a “good caretaker”.
It sounds like the core philosopher of the center Santeri Alkion (1862–1930) cultivated by the “good person” ideal, but also just as if a nurse were needed because someone was hospitalized or bankrupt.
Who could there be a sequel?
So far, the closest to signing up has been the chairman of the center's parliamentary group Antti Kurvinenwho is “seriously considering” the candidacy.
Quite popular as Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen is probably the strongest at the moment, but he is just thinking about it.
There are plenty of options. Eva Kalli, Hilkka Kemppi, Markus Lohi and Petri Honkonen are, among other things, possible.
How about if Olli Rehn, who got a raise in the presidential election, enters the race?
It's hard to imagine, but the job of CEO of the Bank of Finland has led to difficult jobs before. Like one Mauno Koivisto first as prime minister in 1979 and then as president in 1982.
The center now needs deep introspection and a bold program, but also some kind of miracle, if the world doesn't suddenly start to idealize those in the middle of the field again.
The center is now a medium-sized party, and it may very well start to be nimble and shyly bark at the big ones. It often bites, but first you need to know what it offers instead.
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