Venice Commission - Report on Bicameralism

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Finland

1.Has the country ever had a bicameral parliamentary (or congressional) system in the past? If so, in which period? Why was it decided to change into a unicameral system? Is there a public debate about changing to a bicameral system? What are the terms of the debate?

Finland has never had a bicameral parliamentary system.
Instead, the Finnish parliamentary system, which is among the oldest in Europe, has been unicameral even since parliamentary reform in 1906, establishing universal suffrage, including women, and proportional election for a unicameral parliament on the basis of the d’Hondt method of distribution of seats. This was a decision with very few contemporary models. At the time, Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire, albeit with the legal system inherited from the period of Swedish rule, including enactments enjoying constitutional status, continuing to be in force.
Prior to 1906, the Finnish political system was based on the Diet of the Four Estates (nobles, clergy, burghers and peasants) which had started meeting regularly in 1863.
Finland gained independence in 1917. The constitutional framework of the newly independent state was laid down by the adoption of the Constitution Act of 1919 and three other enactments enjoying the status of the Constitution. The Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta, Riksdagen ) continued to be a unicameral body although the tasks of the Grand Committee, one of Parliament’s permanent committees, were somewhat reminiscent of those of the “second chamber” since the Committee was originally organized as a legislative body. However, the tasks of the Grand Committee were changed in the early 1990s, and it nowadays serves as “Parliament’s EU committee” which expresses Parliament’s stance on the national preparation of European Union matters.

Currently, unicameralism of the Finnish parliamentary system is enshrined in Section 24 of the Constitution as follows: “The Parliament is unicameral. It consists of two hundred Representatives who are elected for a term of four years at a time.”

Finland has a deeply-rooted tradition of unicameralism and, accordingly, all public debate about changing the Finnish parliamentary system to a bicameral system has practically been conspicuous by its absence.

2.What is the population of the country? What is its size?

The current population of Finland is 5,565,026 (as of Wednesday, May 3, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data). Finland covers an area of 338,455 square kilometres and, accordingly, is the 7th largest country in Europe geographically.

3.What form of state and form of government has the country? Please provide details with reference to relevant constitutional provisions. a) Unitarian or federal/regional/other form of decentralization; b) Parliamentary, presidential, semi-presidential or mixed

Finland’s constitutional system follows popular sovereignty and legislative supremacy principles. In accordance with Sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution, Finland is a sovereign republic in which sovereign power shall belong to the people, represented by Parliament convened in session. Legislative power shall be exercised by Parliament in conjunction with the President of the Republic. Supreme executive power shall be vested in the President of the Republic. In addition, for the general government of the State there shall be a Council of State comprising the Prime Minister and the requisite number of Ministers. Judicial power shall be exercised by independent courts of law, at the highest instance the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court.
As with other Nordic countries, Finland has no constitutional court. Instead, the Finnish system of constitutional review amounts to a combination of abstract ex ante and concrete ex post mechanisms of review in which various organs from legislative, executive and judicial branches of the state are charged with the review of the constitutionality of ordinary legislation. Hence, the Finnish system of constitutional review is essentially decentralized and pluralist by nature.
For decades, Finland fell into the category of semi-presidential democracies where the elected Head of State – the President of the Republic – enjoyed strong powers distinct from parliamentary decision-making and the requirement of parliamentary confidence.
Since the early 1980s, however, the constitutional trend has increasingly been away from the presidential focus of authority towards parliamentary form of government.
After the entry into force of the current Constitution of Finland in 2000, as well as the 2012 constitutional amendment, Finland has become a fully-fledged parliamentary democracy, the “last bastion” of presidential power mainly being in the sphere of foreign affairs. Even there, the exercise of the power of the President is bound to the co-operation of the Government, for Section 94, subsection 1, of the Constitution provides as follows: “Foreign policy of Finland is directed by the President of the Republic in co-operation with Government.” The distribution of powers regarding European Union affairs, in turn, is regulated by Section 93, subsection 2, of the Constitution which provides that the Government is responsible for the national preparation of the decisions to be made in the European Union, and decides on the concomitant Finnish measures, unless the decision requires the approval of the Parliament. Section 96 of the Constitution regulates in more detail the participation of the Parliament in the national preparation of European Union matters.
Finland is a unitary system of government, albeit organised on a decentralised basis and having three levels of governance: central, regional and local.

As enshrined in Section 121 of the Constitution, Finland is divided into municipalities, whose administration is based on the self-government of their residents. In addition, Section 121, subsection 3, provides on self-government in administrative areas larger than a municipality. After the recent reform of the Finnish healthcare and social services system, the so-called regional welfare areas enjoy limited self-governing powers in mainland Finland.

In addition, the Åland Islands, with a large Swedish speaking majority (88%), has been a self-governing province since 1921, having its own parliament and government. The special status of the Åland Islands is enshrined in Section 120 of the Constitution.

Moreover, Section 121, subsection 3, of the Constitution guarantees linguistic and cultural self-government for the Sámi - the only indigenous people in the European Union - in their native region in the northernmost part of Finland.

4.How many members are in the lower house?

200 representatives.