National Coalition Party

The National Coalition Party (NCP; ; ; ; ) is a liberal-conservative political party in Finland. Ideologically, the National Coalition Party is positioned on the centre on the political spectrum, and it has been described as liberal, conservative, conservative-liberal, and liberal-conservative. Founded in 1918, the National Coalition Party is one of the "big three" parties that have dominated Finnish national politics for several decades, along with the Social Democratic Party and the Centre Party. The current party chair is Petteri Orpo, elected on 11 June 2016. The party self-statedly bases its politics on "freedom, responsibility and democracy, equal opportunities, education, supportiveness, tolerance and caring" and supports multiculturalism and gay rights. Their foreign stances are pro-NATO and pro-European oriented, and they are a member of the European People's Party (EPP). The party's vote share was approximately 20% in parliamentary elections since 1990s and only out of coalition governments in eight years. It won 44 out of 200 seats in the parliamentary elections of 2011, becoming the largest party in the Finnish Parliament for the first time in its history. On the municipal level, it became the most popular party in 2008. In the 2015 election, the NCP lost its status as the country's largest party, finishing second in votes and third in seats, but again joined the governing coalition. 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. After the 2023 election, it became the largest party with 48 seats. As a result, its leader Petteri Orpo has started forming a coalition government. History