Citizens' Party (Finnish: Kansalaispuolue, Swedish: Medborgarpartiet) was a Finnish political party, founded in 2016.[1] It was founded by the long-time Centre Party politician and MEPPaavo Väyrynen, who left Centre in early 2016.[2] Väyrynen acted as the first chairman of the party until July 2017, when he was succeeded by Sami Kilpeläinen.[3]
In March 2018, Citizens' Party expelled Väyrynen from the party, due to his alleged misdeeds with the campaign funding during the presidential elections.[6] Väyrynen denied the allegations and instead started a court case against the activities of the board of the party.[7] While the court case was still ongoing, Väyrynen founded a Citizens' Party's parliamentary group, intending to represent the party within the parliament.[8]
In November 2018, the District Court of Helsinki deemed void the majority of decisions made by the party board, including the decision to expel Väyrynen.[9] Chairman Sami Kilpeläinen soon announced that they would appeal against the decision while preparing for the 2019 parliamentary election as usual.[10] The decision promoted Väyrynen to abandon the Citizens' Party's parliamentary group in favor of that of his Seven Star Movement.[11] In April 2019, Citizens' Party and Väyrynen settled their differences.[12]
Citizens' Party took part in the 2019 parliamentary election, but none of its candidates were elected.[13] The party was dissolved in August 2022, and its active members were transferred to the Christian Democrats.[14]
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