Hallitus- ja oppositioryhmien suhde eduskunnassa toisen maailmansodan jälkeisellä ajalla

Authors

• Antti Pajala University of Turku

Abstract

By definition in a parliamentary system it is justified to assume the government parties to vote almost
always in a unitary manner in plenary votes. In a multiparty system it is, however, hard to predict
how the opposition groups vote. Few studies analysing government-opposition relations in plenary
votes regarding the Finnish parliament were published during the 1960s and 1970s. This study
provides similar analyses regarding parliamentary years 1991–2006. Combined the studies provide
an insight to the government-opposition relations since the Second World War. The results show
that before the 1990s the government-opposition division in plenary votes appeared rather clear
while the political party groups’ positions followed the traditional left-right dimension. Since the
1990s the government-opposition division has become stricter. The government party groups now
appear extremely close to each other while the opposition groups are far from the government in
a more or less random order. Consequently, the previous left-right dimension is not visible any more.