Finland’s National Coalition Party faces declining support among women

The National Coalition Party is struggling with a sharp drop in support among women, a trend that began a year and a half ago and has persisted since, according to a report by Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

Six prominent women within the party acknowledge the decline but disagree on its severity. All agree, however, that broader societal shifts—women becoming more left-leaning and liberal—are now reflected in the party’s polling.

Binga Tupamäki, chair of the party’s youth wing, dismissed the idea of tailoring policies to win back female voters ahead of the next parliamentary elections. “The worst option would be to think about how to get women to vote for us with some kind of May Day sausage stand,” she said.

Party secretary Maggie Keskinen called the loss of female support a serious issue requiring action, noting that the party must appeal to both men and women. She cited a growing divergence in values between genders, with women becoming more liberal and left-wing while men trend conservative and right-wing. This polarization, she argued, is reshaping party allegiances.

Keskinen pointed to the party’s newly published 92-page policy program as a potential solution, emphasizing credible answers to Finland’s challenges. She declined to directly link the government’s austerity measures—such as cuts to benefits affecting single-parent households—to the decline in female support, though these decisions coincided with the start of the drop in late 2024.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Paula Risikko, a long-serving party member, called the decline surprising. She suggested multiple factors, including the burdens of governing and the difficulty of the current term, which has involved scrutinizing every budget line for savings. Risikko acknowledged that austerity measures may have disproportionately affected women but noted signs of renewed engagement among female party supporters.