Party Behaviour in the Finnish Parliament

Abstract

This article focuses on party behaviour in the Finnish Parliament. We consider the political parties as vote‐seekers, office‐seekers, or policy‐seekers in a multiparty system. We presume that the parliamentary position of a party affects its behaviour, and that the behaviour of a party differs from one arena to another in Parliament. The party activity is measured in terms of proposed motions, reservations to committee decisions, debates and statements at plenary sessions, and roll‐calls at plenary sessions. The empirical findings indicate that political parties in opposition act first and foremost as vote‐seekers. Only opposition parties make reservations to committee decisions and initiate roll‐calls at plenary sessions. On the other hand, the governing parties seem mainly to focus on policy‐seeking.