by
Mikko Mattila
Department of Political Science
P.O. Box 54
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
E-mail: mmattila@valt.helsinki.fi
Abstract
This paper analyses the consequences of the 1992 change in the voting rule in the Finnish Parliament. Until this reform one third of all Parliament members could postpone a law proposal to be considered anew by the Parliament. This rule was abolished in 1992 which meant that the Finnish Parliament finally adopted a simple majority rule to decide on new legislation. The empirical part analyses the effects of the reform in parties' voting power. The voting power of the big parties increased compared to small ones. However, the variation among smaller parties was bigger. Biggest losers were middle-sized parties. When looking at the government and the Parliament as institutions the emphasis moved clearly to the government. When looking at parties in the government coalitions as a whole (adding up their share in the government and in the Parliament) the picture was quite clear. The opposition lost at the least some of its voting power. This change was clearest in the case of the party government model in which opposition lost its voting power completely.