2011 Finnish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%.

The importance of the election was magnified due to Finland's capacity to influence the European Union's decision in regard to affecting a bailout for Portugal via the European Financial Stability Facility, as part of financial support systems for debt-laden European countries, and the fall of the Portuguese government. Small differences in the opinion polls for the traditional three big parties (the National Coalition Party, the Centre Party and the Social Democratic Party) and the surprising rise in support for the True Finns also electrified the atmosphere ahead of the election.

The election resulted in a breakthrough for the populist True Finns, which came head-to-head with the three big parties, while every other parliamentary party in mainland Finland, excluding Åland, lost popularity. The National Coalition Party (NCP) also ended up as the biggest party for the first time in its history. The total turnout rose to 70.5% from 67.9% in the previous election; and corruption scandals also resulted in an anti-incumbency vote. The incumbent, Centre Party-led coalition, which included the NCP, Green League and Swedish People's Party (SPP), lost its majority by two seats and their Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi of the Centre Party signaled that her party would then sit in opposition.

The incumbent Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen, as the leader of the biggest party in the new parliament, was tasked to form a new government. During government formation talks, the True Finns said they would withdraw if the government accepted the Portuguese bailout. Katainen then continued six-party talks that included the NCP, the SDP, the Left Alliance, Green League, Christian Democrats and the SPP. However, these negotiations ran aground on 1 June as the Social Democrats and the Left Alliance walked out of the talks due to strong differences on economic policies. Negotiations were set to continue under Katainen's proposed premiership, though the composition of the new government was not certain at the time. Due to the Green League's opposition to forming a government with the NCP, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats, Katainen—avoiding a resultant minority government—announced on 10 June that the same six parties would return to negotiations, describing it as the "only possible coalition." On 17 June, the six parties came to an agreement on forming a coalition government, led by Katainen and consisting of 19 ministers. The ministerial portfolios were divided with the NCP and the SDP both having six ministers, while the Left Alliance, the Greens and the SPP would each have two and the Christian Democrats would have one. The six parties announced their ministers designate between 17–20 June. On 22 June the new parliament elected Jyrki Katainen as prime minister.

## Background

In June 2010, then-Prime Minister of Finland and leader of the Centre Party Matti Vanhanen said that he would be stepping down from both positions. At a party conference held between 11 and 13 June, then-Minister for Public Administration and Local Government Mari Kiviniemi was elected the new party leader. Vanhanen stepped down from the position of the Prime Minister a few days later and was replaced by Kiviniemi, who became the second female Prime Minister in Finland's history.

The incumbent government was considering proposals for a new constitution, including a phrase in the first paragraph of the third clause that would have read "Finland is a member of the European Union." It was speculated that the incumbent government could finalise a new constitution before the election but the changes to the constitution would require the support of the next parliament in order to pass.

## Electoral system

The 200 members of the parliament are elected using the proportional D'Hondt method through which voters cast their vote for a candidate of their choosing within a party list. Electoral alliances between parties were allowed but were less common for the parliamentary parties in this election as the parties were preparing for future electoral reform that would not provide for electoral alliances.

In 2011 the country was divided into 15 electoral districts. (Åland is the only single member electoral district and it also has its own party system.) The electoral districts are shown below.

Following the problem-ridden limited electronic voting experiment of the 2008 municipal elections, the Ministry of Justice announced in January 2010 that there would be no electronic voting at this time, but that the ministry would be monitoring the international arenas for development of online voting.

### Campaign funding

This was the first election since the Act on a Candidate's Election Funding came into force in May 2009, along with the 2010 amendments to the Act on Political Parties. Both laws mandate the disclosure of the sources of campaign finance and expenses. Every candidate and party as a whole must disclose their source of funding. Campaign funding may start six months before the election day and end two weeks after the election regardless of when the costs are actually paid. The candidates must file a public report with the National Audit Office detailing their sources of all contributions of over €1,500 in value raised in support of the election campaign. The funds include expenses from the candidate's own assets, loans taken out for the campaign, and contributions received by either the individual or by a group that supports the candidate. Candidates are barred from receiving anonymous contributions of over €1,500 in value.

## Retiring incumbents

Former Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen began to work as the Chief Executive of Finnish Family Firms Association and did not participate in the election.

The incumbent Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party did not run for parliament, despite receiving a record number of votes in the 2007 election. It was anticipated that he would be the National Coalition Party's presidential candidate in 2012; which he won. Overall there were 38 MPs not seeking re-election.

## Competing parties

At the time of the election there were 17 registered parties (a party has to collect signatures from at least 5,000 eligible voters in order to be accepted on the official party register, which is maintained by the Ministry of Justice). Eight of the parties were represented in the current parliament: the Centre Party, National Coalition Party (NCP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Left Alliance, Green League, Swedish People's Party (SPP), Christian Democrats and True Finns. The MP representing Åland sits with the Swedish People's Party in the parliament.

Nine of the registered parties did not have representation in the parliament before or as a result of the elections: the Communist Party, Senior Citizens' Party, Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism, Workers Party, Independence Party, For the Poor, Pirate Party, Change 2011, and Freedom Party.

### Party conferences

The Centre Party, the National Coalition Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Green League held party conferences in May or June 2010 where they elected the party leadership for the election and approved their election manifestoes. The Left Alliance held its conference in 2009, when they elected Paavo Arhinmäki chairman after the previous chairman resigned in 2009 due to the party's poor result in the European Parliament election.

Mari Kiviniemi was elected the new leader of the Centre Party in its conference in Lahti on 12 June. The support for the Centre Party has been significantly higher in northern Finland than elsewhere: in the 2007 election the party received over 43% of the votes in both Oulu and Lapland electoral districts, compared with its nationwide support of 23.1%, while in 2003 the party's vote share in the two northernmost districts was even higher) As the top spots of the party leadership went to members from southern Finland, many of their supporters in the northern part of the country felt disenchanted; one local party chief even warned that many northern Centre Party supporters might switch sides to the True Finns.

The National Coalition Party re-elected incumbent Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen the party leader on 12 June, amidst protests by Greenpeace activists.

The Green League held its party conference between 22 and 23 May. The Greens emphasised the importance of the environment and set same-sex marriage and increasing foreign aid as the party's objectives.

## Campaign

In what was seen to have promoted anti-incumbency, a scandal regarding campaign finance followed allegation that the Centre Party's Timo Kalli's, who was also the head of the party's parliamentary group, admission in early May 2009 that he violated the law on reporting electoral campaign financing by not disclosing financial contributions he received for his election campaign during the previous election in 2007. When the media then delved further into the issue, stories started to emerge of common practice with a multitude of MPs not disclosing their financial benefactors, a practice which was not punishable under Finnish law. The media investigations focused on a group of entrepreneurs called Kehittyvien Maakuntien Suomi (Finland of Developing Provinces) who financed the electoral campaigns of numerous high-profile government and opposition candidates. Further investigations revealed that many recipients of their financial support did not register or even mention the amounts they received from the group. Then Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was at the core of the accusations after the investigations showed he had also been among the beneficiaries of the groups' financing; this was despite one of the members of the group who had planned to build the biggest shopping mall in the country received Vanhanen's support for the plans against the grain of public opinion, thus eliciting accusations that he could have been influenced by the individual. Blame was also put on the Centre Party's secretary Jarmo Korhonen. This was said to have helped the True Finns.

The European sovereign debt crisis was another important issue in the election, even more so after Portugal applied for an EU bailout on 6 April, the first day of advance voting. According to an opinion poll nearly 60% of Finns were against Finland's participation in bailing out the crisis-ridden countries. All four parties of the governing coalition (Centre Party, National Coalition Party, Green League and the Swedish People's Party) support Finland's participation in the bailout and all four opposition parties (Social Democrats, Left Alliance, Christian Democrats and the True Finns) oppose such measures. The issue helped Soini become the most visible opposition leader. Soini then also stated that his party would not join in any coalition that supports guarantees to the crisis-ridden EU countries. He said that their crises are a consequence of the EU's failure. Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen had commented that a bailout for Portugal should only happen if the Portuguese parliament passed even tougher austerity measures than the failed programme that led to an early Portuguese election: "The package must be really strict because otherwise it doesn't make any sense. The package must be harder and more comprehensive than the one the parliament voted against." Despite his comments, the National Coalition Party believed the bailout to be in Finland's interests. It, along with the Centre Party, supported the bailout under the EU's auspices, while the True Finns and the Social Democrats were opposed to it. The True Finns said that Finnish taxpayers were being unjustly burdened by "squanderers" within the eurozone and pointed out that no one aided Finland during its own financial crisis in the 1990s. Helsingin Sanomat read the affair as having added "confusion" and complexity to the electoral race. The effect of the Finnish election on a possible EU bailout caused concern amongst to international investors as "it is a very distinct possibility that the next government and parliament of Finland will not want to agree to the things that the current government has signed up for, namely supporting Portugal and agreeing to the permanent and temporary crisis mechanisms," as there was said to be an "even chance" of Finland blocking a bailout for Portugal as its support was crucial because it would need the unanimous support of all national governments to pass. Finland's participation was further thrown in doubt as it was the only eurozone country to require parliamentary approval of any such measure. Should a new Finnish administration opt out of the bailout, this could throw into doubt the eurozone's capacity to maintain financial stability.

Yet another important issue during the campaign was that of the languages in the country. The status of the Swedish and Russian languages was a hot-button issue. A growing number of people believe that the Swedish language should be abolished as the country's second official language, as only a small percentage of the country use Swedish as their first language and that a large number of government officials do not use Swedish. A report by the Council of Europe stated that the Swedish language's status as Finland's second official language was in danger of being eroded in the longer term because of the officials' poor language skills and the lack of opportunities to study the language. However, the status of Russian was considered to be rising as several municipalities in eastern Finland sought to increase the role of the language at local schools. At the time, Swedish was spoken by 5.42% of the population as their mother tongue, with Russian spoken by 1.01% and the Sami languages spoken by 0.03%.

Furthermore, despite changes to the campaign finance laws, there was no perceptible decrease in campaigning activity. One reason was a compensatory expansion of advertising by way of internet search engines such as Facebook and other social media which were relatively inexpensive. Helsingin Sanomat called election workers in all electoral districts, excluding the Åland Islands, to ask for their assessments of the electoral campaigns. They reported that while the NCP's campaign was the most visible, the Centre Party and the Social Democrats also had high-profile campaigns with some variations across districts. The NCP were also said to be spending more of their own money than in the past.

### Party-specific issues

#### Centre Party

The Centre Party has been the traditional party of rural voters, but according to polls, it had been losing support to the True Finns in its traditional stronghold regions. The party has traditionally had both a liberal and a conservative wing, however, with the leadership reshuffling in 2010, the central posts are now held by the liberal wing. The Centre Party has held the portfolio of the prime minister since 2003. According to opinion polls, Kiviniemi's personal support was higher than that of the party. She had also been campaigning as a staunch defender of Finland's participation in guarantees to the crisis-ridden EU countries.

#### Christian Democrats

The Christian Democrats, led by Päivi Räsänen, had announced that they would not support any governing coalition that plans on legalising same-sex marriage. Räsänen has also said that Christian refugees ought to be favoured in Finland's refugee policy on the grounds that they have better potential for successful integration to the society than refugees of other religions.

#### Green League

The Green League, which was part of the governing coalition, announced that it will not participate in any coalition that plans to give licences to new nuclear reactors.

The Green League also hosted members from the German Green Party; however, they did not partake in campaign events but instead were only present to learn about Finland's style of street campaigning.

#### Left Alliance

As a defender of high taxes, the Left Alliance's leader Paavo Arhinmäki has said that the party can be described as "supportive of income redistribution." The Left Alliance is critical of nuclear energy and is also against Finland's participation in the EU-sponsored Portuguese bailout.

#### National Coalition Party

Traditionally a pro-market economy and pro-EU centre-right party, the NCP were the largest party in the parliament for the first time in its history, though losing seats since the 2007 election. Although leading in the opinion polls for several years, it started to see some loss of support after the rise of the True Finns. Despite being founded as a primarily conservative party, an analysis on the party's programmes made by an NCP-affiliated think tank concluded that in the 2000s the liberal wing had gained the upper hand and had started to change the party's political ideology. At the party conference in 2010, the NCP delegates voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. The party's supporters are also generally very supportive of market economy, nuclear power and Finland's admission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Led by incumbent Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen, the NCP has been strongly supportive of Finland's participation in EU bailouts with Katainen underlining the importance of what he calls "European responsibility." He also invited Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to observe the campaign, though Reinfeldt did not address a party rally. MP Ben Zyskowicz said that he could not estimate Reinfeldt's effect on voters.

#### Social Democratic Party

Polls concerning preference for the favourite candidate for Prime Minister indicated that SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen did not enjoy the support of everyone in her party. Urpilainen herself has denied claims of a leadership crisis.

In early April, the new leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, Håkan Juholt, visited Finland in order to show support for the SDP in the election. The party also invited other foreign politicians and ministers for a campaign rally in the week before the election. Liisa Jaakonsaari, an SDP MEP, justified this by saying that it was a tradition to invite colleagues from other states. The party's main guest was the German chairman of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Martin Schulz. In the interim, the party also invited Swedish Social Democrat Marita Ulvskog who echoed the view that "investors and banks need to take responsibility." Former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen was also present; he praised the EU and EMU and said that Finland is in a "psychological and moral slump." Following a recent election of his own, the leader of the Estonian Social Democratic Party Sven Mikser and MEP Ivari Padar traveled to campaign rallies in Helsinki and Espoo on 11 April to show support for their "sister party's field campaign." Mikser said that the "Social Democrats recently garnered a strong vote in Estonia and are clearly on the rise. Now we need the same to happen in Finland." Padar also said that because of the rise of anti-EU parties in both Finland and other countries: "That is why I personally consider it important to explain to the Finnish people that Europe should not be feared. Since Estonia and Finland are the only Nordic countries in the Eurozone, we need to have [a] strong partnership in the region."

#### Swedish People's Party

The Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP) is the dominant party amongst Swedish-speaking voters; a poll has indicated that 75% of them support the party. Led by Stefan Wallin, the party is resolute on preserving the mandatory teaching of Swedish in schools. The SPP also wants to preserve the current immigration laws, which were passed on the initiative of incumbent Minister of Migration Astrid Thors, a member of the SPP.

#### True Finns

True Finns have said that Finland should not financially support the European Financial Stability Facility that led to bailouts for Ireland and Greece. Timo Soini asked: "How come they (the European Union) can't see the euro doesn't work?" The party manifesto said that they would support a capital gains tax increase from 28% to 30% and an increased tax on alcohol. The party also opposed mention of Finland's EU membership in the constitution and want to cut social welfare for immigrants. Soini also suggested Finland should unilaterally withdraw from the European Union Emission Trading Scheme and some other international commitments and that giving up the euro was an option. While speculating about a possible ministerial portfolio he later backed down on commitments when journalists asked him if the issues would be True Finns' demands in any possible government formation talks, citing the proposals as his personal opinion and not necessarily incorporated into a prospective government policy programme. He continued to maintain that the EU membership issue in the constitution would be a threshold for their participation in government formation talks. Helsingin Sanomat suggested that these demands could prove detrimental to a chance for True Finns to join a governing coalition. The True Finns also support the continuation of social welfare benefits. The party's support for the benefits along with its stance on the EU bailouts was also seen as one reason for its growth in popularity at a time when the country was facing welfare cuts by the government. The True Finns' vice-chairman Vesa-Matti Saarakkala said that "the True Finns will not participate in a coalition government with any party ready to give further loan guarantees". This stance on the EU's bailout was read by The Wall Street Journal as detrimental to the euro zone's attempt to reassure bond investors that it would not face debt problems. It also said that a good showing for the True Finns could threaten Portugal's EU-sponsored bailout.

Incumbent Prime Minister Kiviniemi said that she was ready to work with any party in Finland. When pressed by the media she said that she would not rule out working with the True Finns pending cooperation on negotiating a government platform. The True Finns and the Green League have both confirmed that the two parties are ideologically too far from each other to sit in the same coalition. The True Finns' main campaign issues—lowering refugee quotas and cutting foreign aid and Finland's financial contribution to the EU—were seen as a possible hindrance to coalition talks.

### Debates

In February the three biggest parties partook in a debate organised by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum in front of an audience consisting of people from the field of business. The National Coalition's Katainen said that as a result of February polling there were now four prime ministerial candidates from the four largest parties. However, the True Finns' chairman and MEP Timo Soini was excluded because the various pollings presented at the time were different. All parties insisted that the retirement age must not be lowered from 63. The SDP's Urpilainen said that the party would continue with what they said was a need to cut pensions and that increasing the retirement age is a form of cutting pensions; to support this she pointed out an earlier retirement age law of 65 years and that the age had been lowered. She also added that because of a large proportion of disabled pensioners, younger people should join the workforce quickly after graduation. Katainen and the Centre Party's Kiviniemi said they would consider raising the retirement age to lengthen work careers. Kiviniemi said that "some of the directors of our large corporations are retiring at the age of 59–60" and that, at the same time, "demands are being presented that people should work longer." Urpilainen also said that lowering the value added tax on food was mistake, though she said that it should not be raised either.

The first televised prime ministerial debate was organised by the state-owned broadcaster Finnish Broadcasting Company on 31 March in Tampere and included the chairpersons of the four parties leading in the opinion polls. The European sovereign debt crisis featured prominently in the debate; the leaders of the governing coalition, Katainen and Kiviniemi, defended Finland's participation in guaranteeing the loans to crisis-ridden EU countries claiming that Finland would otherwise risk plunging into a new recession as the country is dependent on exports to other European countries. As the chairpersons of the leading opposition parties, Soini and Urpilainen denied this claim and insisted that the debt-ridden countries should rather be allowed to go into their own debt restructuring. Urpilainen was not entirely against emergency measures aimed at saving these countries, but insisted that the major European banks ought to play a larger role in the guarantees. Soini continued his criticism of the euro, reiterating that no referendum was ever called on the currency union – he remained steadfast on his party's opposition to Finland guaranteeing the loans and presented the upcoming election as a referendum on the issue. On other economic issues, Kiviniemi continued to insist that spending cuts are not necessary in the following years – a claim repudiated by the other party leaders. Urpilainen and, initially, also Katainen were willing to make cuts on military spending; Soini, however, contested the cut but was instead ready to cut development aid and immigration-related expenses.

On 6 April, the television station MTV3 organised a debate for all the incumbent parties represented in the parliament. On the question of Finland's participation in NATO operations in Libya during the 2011 Libyan civil war, Soini, saying "Finland should not be taken into wars," was accompanied by the Left Alliance's leader Paavo Arhinmäki on disagreeing with the other party leaders' stance on supporting Finland's participation. All the opposition parties criticised the government's tax policies which they claimed were aiming towards the establishment of a flat tax. On the question of energy policy, the chairpersons of the NCP, True Finns and SPP were in favour of building more nuclear energy on the grounds of achieving energy self-sufficiency. Jyrki Katainen said that "we need to decide to either import nuclear energy from Russia or produce it ourselves" and Soini pointed out that the steel industry does not get along with mere wind energy,— while the leaders of the other five parties were against it, with some preferring instead to build more renewable energy infrastructure. Anni Sinnemäki of the Green League said that "not all renewable energy is expensive" and Urpilainen insisted that after the summer 2010 decisions to give licences for two nuclear plants, a halt was needed for reconsideration in any decision to further nuclear projects. Stefan Wallin of the SPP was the only party leader willing to force municipalities to take in the refugees allocated to them.

On 13 April, MTV3 organised another debate, which featured the same four party chairpersons as the debate by the Finnish Broadcasting Company two weeks earlier; Katainen, Kiviniemi, Urpilainen and Soini. The party leaders reiterated their stances regarding the EU-sponsored Portuguese bailout; Katainen and Kiviniemi were in favour of it, insisting that the bailout is necessary in order to assure the stability of the European economy and thus in the interest of Finland. Urpilainen and Soini were against the bailout, with Urpilainen demanding more responsibility from banks and investors and Soini repeating his stance that the eurozone cannot possibly function properly with countries like Portugal and Greece as members. Soini also criticised the governing parties for using scare tactics in the form of threatening Finns with rising unemployment if the bailout fails to pass. On other issues, Katainen, as he had stated earlier, willing to consider raising the minimum retirement age, while Urpilainen announced that the SDP would not join any coalition that does so. Katainen was the only party leader in favour of Finland's admission to NATO. However, even he said that the admission does not seem possible during the next four years as the majority of Finns are against NATO membership.

The second televised debate organised by the Finnish Broadcasting Company on 14 April was the last before the election and it included all the eight parliamentary parties. The economy was a dominant theme of the debate. Jutta Urpilainen reiterated her claim that the incumbent government was furthering the establishment of a flat tax. She also accused the government for advancing the interests of the richest percentage at the expense of the poor people. Jyrki Katainen denied the claims, but the two main governing coalition parties, the NCP and the Centre Party, were the only parties opposed to increasing welfare for the unemployed. Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi of the Centre Party had previously been quiet on spending cuts, but when pressed on the issue by the debate's moderator she was rather indiscreet on cutting funding for the public sector and the Defence Forces. However, she still insisted that cuts may not be necessary if the economic growth is sufficiently high in the following years. Cuts on defence spending were supported by most parties, but Timo Soini contested this by saying that national security can not depend on economic conjectures. The crisis concerning the breaches against the campaign funding laws during the previous electoral campaign in 2007 was also discussed. Kiviniemi admitted that mistakes had been made. Soini called the mishandling an example of corruption and was glad that it was exposed. Kiviniemi discreetly said to Soini that the press had written about events in Soini's party as well. Soini's reply to this was: "The press? Your people are on trial!"

### Controversies

During the night between Sunday 10 and Monday 11 April animal rights activists opposing fur farming systematically sabotaged a large number of the Centre Party's electoral billboards in Helsinki and Turku. The billboards, featuring a portrait of incumbent Prime Minister Kiviniemi, were replaced with similar-looking posters featuring a blood-mouthed Kiviniemi and a text that read "Do you want to close the animals in small cages? – I do as well." Kiviniemi was known for having received support from fur industry. In a comment to the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Secretary of the Centre Party Timo Laaninen condemned the action as "a serious violation of the democratic order that would be met with harsh countermeasures", as volunteers hoped to restore the billboards by the morning of 13 April. In an official statement, Minister of Justice Tuija Brax of the Green League condemned the acts of vandalism as both alarming and illegal and urged citizens to report all vandalism to the authorities so as to allow the parties to replace the boards and bring the culprits to justice. Other parties also joined the Centre Party's concern that election billboards were being repeatedly vandalised, bringing unwelcome expenses especially for the smaller parties. The Centre Party lodged an official complaint against the vandalism with the police. A police investigation has been launched into the incident.

Some campaigning by party workers of the True Finns caused controversy over the nature of their actions. Most complaints emanated from the Helsinki region. Jussi Saramo of the Left Alliance in the Uusimaa electoral district said of their actions that "[ever since] I have been involved in politics for 12 years and I have never seen such excesses." This followed an event in Korso in Vantaa where he parked his campaign trailer in a spot the True Finns said was reserved for party chairman Timo Soini. True Finns' candidate Mika Niikko however said those involved in the spat were no longer working for his campaign and he apologised to Saramo despite maintaining his stance that the placement of the trailer was a deliberate provocation: "I do not approve of being provoked when someone tries to provoke;" he also added that the volunteers working for the True Finns campaign come "from here and there" and it was not possible to verify everyone beforehand. He further added a claim that True Finns supporters have also been targets of aggressive behaviour. "A month ago we were not verbally abused, but now you can hear all kinds of language." The Social Democrats' foreign-born candidate Ranbir Sodhi was allegedly confronted by True Finns supporters in the Myyrmäki district of Vantaa who were said to have told him to go back "to his own country" where he could become a politician. A week after the confrontations, however, he said that "the same guys came to Tikkurila to apologise." The National Coalition Party MP Raija Vahasalo also complained that during a campaign event in Kirkkonummi the True Finns handed out leaflets at the same time that claimed she favoured Swedish-speaking residents in allocating local school funding. The action was due to two local members of the True Finns who are not running to become MPs. The chairman of Kirkkonummi True Finns and a candidate in the election Pekka Sinisalo said he confiscated the remainder of the leaflets. "I do not approve of attacking Vahasalo’s person. Election fever sometimes leads to these kinds of excesses." This was controversial as negative campaigning is unusual in Finnish elections. In response to such actions the party secretaries of the largest political parties held a meeting to discuss certain ground rules for the rest of the campaign, however the True Finns' Ossi Sandvik could not make it.

## Opinion polls

Taloustutkimus carried out monthly telephone polls on party popularity for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Since April 2007, the monthly sample size has varied between 2,900–3,900 with a margin of error of about ±1.8%. (Polling does not include Åland as it has its own party system.) However, there were also other less frequent opinion polls.

Most notably the True Finns saw a significant rise since the last election, becoming one of the top four parties. According to Taloustutkimus, the True Finns polled 6.4% in January 2010 and 17.2% in March 2011, while all the traditional top-three parties, the National Coalition Party, the Centre Party and the Social Democrats, lost popularity.

## Conduct

The election saw a substantial increase in international media coverage. Eighty foreign media representatives from a multitude of countries registered for an event at the Foreign Ministry held during the election weekend as it usually is. The journalists also got to ask questions to the representatives of the various political parties. As the results came in, the Foreign Ministry set up broadcast coverage with interpreters on hand. Notably, most journalists were interested in the True Finns and their background. The following day, the Foreign Ministry invited professor Jan Sundberg of the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki to lead an analysis of the result. He was asked about the reasons for the True Finns' performance and the commonality with other European populist movements. There was also discussion about the possible composition of a new government and how the different parties could find common ground during talks on government formation. Sundberg said he believed an agreement could be found within the following few weeks.

### Advance voting

At the end of the advance voting period, the total number of votes was 1,249,198, or 31.2% of the electorate, with more women voting. In the previous election, 29.2% voted in advance. Significantly, President Tarja Halonen voted during advance voting. However, there were some problems with expatriate voting as the embassy in Germany ran out of ballots on 9 April forcing an extension to 11 April. The expatriate vote was considerably higher than in the previous election, up from 8.6% in 2007 to 15%. The Foreign Ministry said that out of a total of 228,000 expatriates eligible to vote 35,049 cast their ballots at the Finnish diplomatic missions, which was up from 27,399.

Advance voting took place in 901 polling stations in the country. Expatriate voting took place between 6 and 9 April at 241 polling stations at embassies and consulates. One national electronic voter list was used for early voting; though for the 17 April poll, voters could only vote at their designated local polling station. The expatriate voter turnout in 91 countries rose by 2.2 % to a record-high 10.7%, with 35,000 people casting their votes. In addition, 400 Finns voted on ships at sea.

However, despite the large advance voting, the race was not considered to have ended because the undecided voters, whose impact was termed crucial, were still being targeted during the remaining few days. As parties and candidate issues were already known by most of the electorate, the remaining days were seen as important over "image and force of personality". Jan Sundberg said that "the more crisis  [sic] out in the world, the better for the parties in opposition."

## Results

Anti-incumbency led to the defeat of 47 incumbent members of parliament, including the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen of the Centre Party and the Minister for Communication Suvi Lindén of the NCP. Among other notable MPs who failed to hold on to their seats were former Minister for Agriculture Juha Korkeaoja of the Centre Party, the vice-chairman of the Centre Party Timo Kaunisto and Marja Tiura of the NCP, who had been elected with the highest number of votes for a female candidate in the 2007 election.

The True Finns' Timo Soini got the most individual votes with 43,437, followed by incumbent Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb of the NCP with 41,768. The new parliament has 115 male MPs and 85 female MPs.

In Åland, Elisabeth Nauclér was elected to represent the islands for Åland Coalition. In the parliament, Nauclér sits in the same group as the SPP.

Result by municipality for the four largest parties:

### Reactions

#### Political

Domestic

The National Coalition Party's leader Jyrki Katainen said of potential government formation talks that "this is a challenging time but it is the politicians' job to solve problems", adding that "we will be fine." Alexander Stubb, the biggest individual winner of the party, said that "it will be very difficult to keep a party with 39 seats out of government." If able to find compromises, he believed the NCP can have the True Finns in the government. He also played down external fears of a government with the True Finns saying that "we Finns are very pragmatic and responsible." He also claimed that "80% of Finns voted in favour of Europe and in favour of bail-outs."

Despite the loss of votes the SPP retained their number of seats in parliament. Party chairman Stefan Wallin described the election result as "interesting."

Supranational bodies

- EU – An unnamed representative of the European Union said that the result "would not affect the bailout for Portugal." A spokesman said that: "There are no changes in plans. Negotiations are underway with Portugal. We're certainly not going to interfere with talks in Finland to form a new government. We're fully confident that member states will honour their commitments."

States

- Portugal – Former President Mario Soares wrote that Finland had become an "ultra-conservative" country. He also recalled his positive memories of the former Finnish Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa and, in comparison, called those politicians that now wish to rule Finland "midgets," who he claimed are hostile toward Portugal.
- Sweden – Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt congratulated Jyrki Katainen and called the National Coalition Party a sister party of the Swedish Moderate Party. However, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was concerned that Finland might "turn its back" on both the Nordic countries and Europe, in referring to the True Finns' electoral success.
  - Jimmie Åkesson of the Sweden Democrats, coming off a surprising electoral result himself, called the result delightful and that his party has such common themes with the True Finns as criticism of the EU and immigration.
- UK – Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) congratulated Timo Soini saying that he had proven the power of the eurosceptic movement (UKIP and the True Finns were both members of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group in the European Parliament at the moment).

#### Economic

The euro fell against the US dollar for the two trading days preceding the vote on speculation that a win for the True Finns would hinder the prospects for the Portuguese bailout. Questions were raised whether the fall of the US dollar to a one-year low could be stemmed. The questions were partially answered on the last trading day before the election, when the dollar rose on concern for a shake-up for European confidence as a result of the election which caused bearish traders to cover their open positions. The strong showing by the True Finns and the Social Democrats caused EU leaders to worry that they may not be able to count on Finland's future support for any such bailout measure. Concerns for the euro grew in the run-up to the election and caused worry after the result. Eurozone stock markets were also upset and could be further upset as the bailout talks, expected to be concluded in mid-May, were affected. While there was no expectation that the bailout wound be derailed, "caution" was said to be the "watchword." The London Stock Exchange also considered the result a possible obstruction to the bailout.

#### Media

Helsingin Sanomat called the result "shocking" and "exceptional," as well terming the result a "protest vote." In an editorial on the day after the election, the newspaper wrote that, as the biggest winner of the election, the True Finns have both the right and the responsibility to go into a coalition government. However, it was uncertain on whether the party can reach a compromise with the National Coalition Party.

The international media also interpreted the result as a new government that could cause hurdles to the Portuguese bailout. The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal wrote that the result of the election might complicate the realisation of the Portuguese bailout. The BBC described the result as "a tremor [that] hit the EU." An article in The Guardian pointed out that:

> These electoral successes tap into the the [sic] complex politics of these countries. Viewed from afar, they are all open, successful, externally orientated. Seen from inside, they address a fear that things are not as they were, that a combination of immigration and membership of the European Union poses a challenge to the traditions of the Nordic way of life. In some way the fact that Finland has joined the EU demonstrates that the country is no longer just the small, poor, well-behaved neighbour of the Nordic block.

It gave two reasons for the populist surge across Europe: The "movements tap into a deep discontent with the mainstream parties in Europe's political systems. Every funding scandal, every politician found to be corrupt, adds more wind to these parties' sails. The European Union, lacking decisive leadership in times of financial difficulty, is an ideal further focus for this ire;" and that populist appeals rely on having "an enemy to hand. This enemy is anyone coming from the outside – immigrants. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is the only thing in common between the politics of these parties. More mainstream politicians such as David Cameron or Angela Merkel then start to adopt this rhetoric. Add to this the hurt inflicted on Europe's populations due to the financial crisis and stagnant growth, and populists have ready material with which to work." It postulated that a solution could lie with a "traditional approach", which the UK-based paper said was most effectively implemented by the group Hope Not Hate, though it only solved a part of the problem in "exposing the extremes of the populist parties". It added that more mainstream parties on both sides of the political spectrum need to change as well by ensuring high standards of propriety and ethics and by articulating what it termed "positive and optimistic economic and political solutions" rather than what it said was populist rhetoric.

### Analysis

Risto Uimonen, an election analyst for the Finnish Broadcasting Company, predicted "the toughest negotiations on government formation since the 1970s", as the three biggest parties have differing stances on many issues. Some analysts said that government formation talks could take weeks or even months due to disparities on such issues as the eurozone bail-outs, taxation, pension reform, foreign aid and immigration. Pasi Saukkonen, a political scientist at the University of Helsinki, made a comparison between similar EU referendums in Denmark and Ireland (following which a similar referendum passed the measure, though it was in turn followed by a similar proposed measure) where the smaller EU member states wielded immense influence; though he said that such controversial matters usually work out in the end.

#### Centre Party

The party of incumbent Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi suffered the heaviest defeat in the election. This was also the biggest loss in the party's history and the biggest loss for any party in the country's post-World War II history. The leader of the Centre Party Kiviniemi called the result "catastrophic" for her party and said that the party's immediate future would be in the opposition. The Centre Party's support was highest in the Oulu electoral district with 33.4% of the votes and lowest in the Helsinki electoral district with 4.5%.

#### Christian Democrats

The Christian Democrats' leader Päivi Räsänen considered the party's loss of one seat relatively small considering what she termed the "political storm" that had swept through Finland during the electoral campaign. Support for the Christian Democrats was highest in the Tavastia electoral district with 6.8% of the votes and lowest in the Lapland electoral district with 1.6% of the votes.

#### Green League

As a result of the Green League's loss of one third of their MPs, party leader Anni Sinnemäki said on the election evening that "the objectives and values advocated by the party had suffered a clear defeat". She added that the party would sit in the opposition. Sinnemäki was also considering her resignation from the head of the party. In the end, she did run for re-election, but placed only third as the party's members elected Ville Niinistö as the new chairman on 11 June. The Green League's support was highest in the Helsinki electoral district with 16.7% of the votes and lowest in the electoral district of Vaasa with 1.4%.

#### Left Alliance

Despite the Left Alliance's loss of seats, its chairman Paavo Arhinmäki was still reasonably satisfied with the party's performance in the election, due to his claims that the media had concentrated on the four major parties during the campaign. However, Arhinmäki got the most personal votes in his electoral district of Helsinki. The Left Alliance's support was highest in Lapland with 16.7% of the votes and lowest in Southern Savonia with 2.2%.

#### National Coalition Party

Despite a loss in support, the NCP became the largest party in the parliament for the first time in its history. The NCP's support was highest in Uusimaa with 28.4% of the votes and lowest in North Karelia with 10.5% of the votes.

#### Social Democratic Party

Although the SDP's number of seats was lower than ever with the exception of the 1962 election, party leader Jutta Urpilainen was proud of her party finishing second in the election after placing third in the previous election. The SDP's support was highest in North Karelia with 26.4% of the votes and lowest in the electoral district of Oulu with 11% of the votes.

#### Swedish People's Party

The SPP's support was highest in the Vaasa electoral district with 19.4% of the votes and lowest in the Oulu electoral district with 0.2% of the votes. However, the party was the only one that did not field candidates in all electoral districts.

#### True Finns

The True Finns gained the highest support in their electoral history; and the rise of 15% was also the largest electoral victory for any party in Finland's post-war history. Their support was highest in Satakunta with 23.6% of the votes and lowest in Helsinki with 13% of the votes. Their rise was said to be because of being a "one-man party" led by Soini's "verbal acuity and political agility" that resulted in the "closest thing to a landslide victory obtainable in Finland's multiparty politics." With the exception of Helsinki, the support for True Finns was spread out evenly across the country. The party enjoyed strongest support in the municipality of Kihniö, where the party received an absolute majority of votes with 53.2%—largely due to Lea Mäkipää who gained 665 votes, nearly 50% of all the votes cast. Four members of Suomen Sisu were elected to the Eduskunta as True Finns MPs (Jussi Halla-aho, Juho Eerola, James Hirvisaari, Olli Immonen).

### By province

## Government formation

As the leader of the NCP, the largest party in parliament, Jyrki Katainen was tasked with forming a new coalition government. He said that the result of the election supported a coalition consisting of the three largest parties, i.e. the National Coalition, the Social Democratic Party and the True Finns. The most problematic question was believed to be the EU bailout policy, where the True Finns most differ from the other parties. Formal negotiations on government formation started after 24 April and the Kiviniemi government submitted its resignation on 29 April, starting to serve as a caretaker government until a new one was formed.

On 12 May, the True Finns announced that they would withdraw from the government formation negotiations due to the bailout issue. Soini said he would remain true to the True Finns' campaign promises and not compromise the party's core principles. After Soini's announcement, Jyrki Katainen invited the SDP, Green League, SPP and Christian Democrats to negotiate on forming a coalition led by the NCP. On 18 May, Katainen announced that he would invite the Left Alliance to negotiate as well, beginning on 20 May. The Left Alliance's participation had been demanded by the Social Democrats.

On 17 June, the six parties came to an agreement on forming a coalition government. The Katainen government had 19 ministers with the portfolios divided with the NCP and the SDP both having six ministers, while the Left Alliance, the Greens and the SPP would each have two ministers and the Christian Democrats would have one. The NCP, SDP, SPP and the Christian Democrats announced their candidates for minister positions on 18 June, while the Left Alliance—with some of its notable members opposing joining the government—confirmed its participation in the government and its candidates for ministerial portfolios on its party council on 19 June. The Green League announced its ministers on 20 June. On 22 June, the parliament elected Katainen as prime minister by a vote of 118–72; two Left Alliance MPs voted against Katainen, for which they were formally reprimanded by the Left Alliance parliamentary group. President Tarja Halonen then formally inaugurated the government at the government palace in Helsinki the same afternoon.

Parliamentary election in Finland in 2011


Abou Diaby

Vassiriki Abou Diaby (born 11 May 1986), known as Abou Diaby, is a French former professional footballer. He played primarily in a box to box role, adept at both attacking and defending. Described as a player who was "languid, elusive, and athletic" that could either "dribble past opponents or slip passes to team-mates". Of Ivorian descent, Diaby also possessed "superb touch" and "excellent close control". Diaby's career was hampered by numerous repetitive injuries, a problem that existed from his time in France. His physical appearance and positional preference evoked comparisons to Arsenal legend and compatriot Patrick Vieira.

Diaby was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but was raised in the Parisian commune of Aubervilliers. He began his football career playing for hometown club CM Aubervilliers. In 1998, he joined Red Star Paris. A year later, Diaby was selected to attend the INF Clairefontaine academy. He spent four years at the academy while simultaneously training with Red Star. A year before departing Clairefontaine, Diaby moved to professional club Paris Saint-Germain. Following an administrative error by club officials which made Diaby a free agent, he joined the academy of Auxerre. He spent two years in the club's youth academy before making his professional debut in the 2004–05 season. Diaby also played in the UEFA Cup with the club. After spending the Autumn portion of the 2005–06 season with Auxerre, in January 2006, Diaby signed with English club Arsenal on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut with the club that same month and scored his first goal three months later against Aston Villa. After being released from Arsenal in 2015 following persistent injury problems, Diaby signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille. Diaby retired from football in February 2019.

Diaby is a former French youth international having earned caps at under-19 and under-21 level. Prior to playing for the senior team, he played on the under-19 team that won the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Diaby made his senior international debut in March 2007 in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Lithuania. He has represented France at one major international tournament; the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Diaby participated in all three group stage matches the team played as a starter.

## Personal life

Diaby was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but was raised in a housing development in Aubervilliers, a northeastern suburb of Paris. He is the son of a long-distance truck driver and developed an interest into the sport of football after becoming fascinated by several players who played on the 1998 FIFA World Cup-winning team, most notably midfield stalwart Patrick Vieira, whom Diaby describes as "a monument to French football". Diaby was also adept at playing other sports such as basketball and boxing. Of Ivorian descent, Diaby is a practicing Muslim and, while growing up, developed a fascination towards the subjects of religion, philosophy, science, and astronomy. Diaby became interested in accountancy after taking a course at the age of 17, while he was at the Auxerre youth academy.

## Club career

### Early career

Diaby began his football career playing for hometown club CM Aubervilliers in December 1996. While at Aubervilliers, Diaby was coached by David Giguère and Alain Mboma, the latter now serving as the manager of Red Star Paris. After two years at the club, Diaby's quick progression at the amateur club led to a move to nearby semi-professional outfit Red Star Paris in Saint-Ouen. While in the club's youth academy, Diaby was supervised by youth academy director Yves-Henri Gergaud and was described by club youth coach Marco Lienel as a player who was "fairly quiet and quite frail". Diaby started his career at the club playing on its under-13 team in the Division Honneur Régionale of the Île-de-France region. After spending a year playing with Red Star, in 1999, he was selected to attend the INF Clairefontaine academy. While at Clairefontaine, Diaby was a part of A la Clairefontaine, a documentary series which chronicled the lives of the France's top young footballers during their time at the academy. During the series, an episode showed Diaby getting into a physical confrontation with Hatem Ben Arfa.

### Auxerre

#### 2002–2004

Towards the end of his development at Clairefontaine, Diaby departed Red Star to play domestic football with professional club Paris Saint-Germain, despite being a supporter of Marseille. He spent a year at the Camp des Loges, the club's training center, from 2001 to 2002. After his departure from Clairefontaine, Diaby was expected to sign a youth contract with Paris Saint-Germain. Club officials wanted to keep the player, however, the club's human resources department failed to send a "letter of commitment" to Diaby's parents ahead of 30 April 2002 deadline, which resulted in the player becoming a free agent. Diaby was hastily recruited by Auxerre scouts and he joined the club's academy ahead of the 2002–03 season. In his first season in the club's youth academy, he won the Division d'Honneur des 16 ans, the under-16 league title of the Bourgogne region.

During the 2003–04 season, Diaby alternated between playing on the club's under-19 team in the Coupe Gambardella and playing in the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football. During the reserve team season, he played on the team alongside future Arsenal teammate Bacary Sagna, as well as Younès Kaboul, Hassan Yebda, Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé and former Clairefontaine classmate Garra Dembélé. Diaby finished the season with the team with 11 appearances and one goal as the team finished first in its group. After the season, he signed his first professional contract with the club agreeing to a three-year deal. Manager Guy Roux subsequently promoted Diaby to the first team and assigned him the number 24 shirt.

#### 2004–2006

Similar to the previous season, Diaby regularly trained with the first team, while concurrently featuring as a starter on the club's reserve team. He made his professional debut on 14 August 2004 appearing as a substitute in a 3–1 league win over Rennes. After making his debut for the club, Diaby spent the rest of the fall season either playing on the club's reserve team or dealing with injuries. He returned to the team in March 2005 making his European debut in the team's UEFA Cup Round of 16 first leg tie against domestic rivals Lille. Diaby appeared in both legs as a substitute as Auxerre won the round 1–0 on aggregate. The club later lost in the quarter-finals to Russian club CSKA Moscow. Diaby made his first professional start on 20 March against his former youth club Paris Saint-Germain. He played 74 minutes before being substituted out in a 1–0 loss. Diaby made three more appearances as a substitute to close out the season.

Following the season, Roux retired as manager of Auxerre after managing the club for 44 straight seasons. He was replaced with former France national team coach Jacques Santini. During the season, Diaby featured early on during the campaign, but as the season wore on, he struggled with injuries, which subsequently, led to the player failing to gain the confidence of Santini. Unlike fellow youngsters Sagna and Kaboul who were quickly establishing themselves at their respective positions, Diaby only featured in five league matches during the first half of the season. The midfielder did score his first professional goal on 10 September 2005 in a 3–1 loss to Rennes. In Europe, Diaby featured as a starter in the team's first round defeat to Bulgarian club Levski Sofia in the UEFA Cup. Midway through the campaign, Diaby was deemed surplus to requirements by management. Following the sale of the player, vice-president Gérard Bourgoin declared that, "We have always kept the young players which our coach wanted to use, but Diaby did not play, so this was a strategic sale for us."

### Arsenal

#### 2006–2009

On 13 January 2006, English club Arsenal confirmed that the club had signed Diaby on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee, later revealed to be £2 million. Prior to joining Arsenal, the player had reportedly turned down an offer to join Arsenal's London rivals Chelsea. Upon joining Arsenal, Diaby was given the number 2 shirt, which was left vacant since the retirement of Lee Dixon. He made his club debut on 21 January 2006 appearing as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat to Everton. Three days later, he made his first start in a 2–1 Football League Cup victory over Wigan. On 21 February, Diaby made his UEFA Champions League debut appearing as a substitute in the team's Round of 16 first leg victory over Spanish club Real Madrid. Two weeks later, Diaby assisted on a goal in Arsenal's 4–0 win over Fulham. After dealing with an injury in the month of March, he returned to play in April scoring his first goal for the club in a 5–0 victory over Aston Villa on April Fools' Day 2006. He was set up for the goal by fellow club newcomer Emmanuel Adebayor.

On 1 May, Diaby suffered a severe ankle fracture after being on the receiving end of a tackle, described by the media as "horrendous", from Sunderland defender Dan Smith. After the match, Wenger described the tackle as "a bad kick and an unnecessary one" and also criticised his competitors' over-physicality, while interim Sunderland manager Kevin Ball defended Smith stating "Smith is not a malicious, dirty player and I think it's unfair to make that call on him and say he deliberately went to do it. Dan went for the ball, unfortunately Diaby was quicker than him". As a result of the injury, Diaby missed the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, as well as the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He underwent three surgeries to repair the injury and was told by doctors that the injury could possibly be career-ending. Following the surgeries, he underwent eight months of rehabilitation and made his return to first team action in the 2006–07 season in a League Cup match against Liverpool. He appeared as a substitute in the match as Arsenal won 6–3. On 25 February 2007, while participating in the 2007 Football League Cup Final against Chelsea, Diaby, while attempting to clear the ball out of the Arsenal defense, accidentally kicked rival defender John Terry in the face. Unconscious, Terry was stretchered off and hospitalized, but recovered to return to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the trophy presentation following Chelsea's 2–1 win. Though Arsenal lost, Diaby was credited with an assist on the team's only goal of the match, which was converted by Theo Walcott. Diaby scored his first and only goal of the campaign on 14 March in a 1–0 win over Aston Villa when he deflected in a Júlio Baptista shot. He remained a fixture within the team for the rest of the campaign, mostly as a substitute as he only started in consecutive matches once.

In Diaby's first full season with Arsenal, he scored his first goal on 22 September 2007 in the club's 5–0 win over Derby County. Three days later, he assisted on a goal in a 2–0 League Cup win over Newcastle United. In December 2007, Diaby scored goals in back-to-back matches for the first time in his career. He scored the first goal on 12 December in the team's final Champions League group stage match against Romanian club Steaua București. Arsenal won the match 2–1. Six days later, Diaby scored Arsenal's opening goal in the club's 3–2 away win over Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup. Diaby failed to chart anything statistical for the rest of the winter months aside from an assist in a 4–1 win over Everton. On 29 March 2008, Diaby was sent off for the first time in his professional career in a league match against Bolton Wanderers for a studs-up tackle on defender Grétar Steinsson. Diaby was defended by Wenger who stated "I don’t think Diaby’s tackle was malicious, it was more protective". Wenger also stated that Diaby's tackle should not be compared to what had happened to teammate Eduardo da Silva a few weeks earlier. Wenger was, subsequently, criticized by the English media for flip-flopping on the subject due to providing differing statements when Arsenal players are on the receiving end of tackles and when they are the aggressors.

After serving his red card suspension, Diaby featured in only one match in the final two months of the season. The match was the second leg of the club's quarter-final Champions League tie against Liverpool. In the match, Diaby netted the opening goal to give Arsenal, who drew 1–1 in the first leg, a 2–1 advantage. Arsenal, however, conceded four goals from Liverpool and lost the tie 5–3 on aggregate. Following the match against Liverpool, Diaby began struggling with a thigh injury. After the injury relapsed in a reserve match in late April, Diaby was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Diaby began the 2008–09 season late in the season after the thigh injury from the previous season was discovered to be more serious than first thought. He made his debut in the season on 18 October 2008 in a 3–1 win over Everton. Three days later, Diaby scored the third goal in a 5–2 Champions League group stage win over Fenerbahçe. He appeared regularly in the campaign for the first time in his Arsenal career. On 26 December 2008, Diaby scored his third career goal against Aston Villa in a 2–2 draw. The following month, he assisted on the equalising goal, scored by Robin van Persie, in the team's 1–1 draw with Everton. Diaby scored his second goal of the campaign in Arsenal's 3–1 league win against Newcastle on 21 March. He finished the season by scoring the team's third goal in the 4–1 win over Stoke City.

#### 2009–2012

Diaby started the 2009–10 season healthy for the first time since 2007 and quickly made an impact. Playing alongside Alex Song and Cesc Fàbregas, he became part of the dynamic three-man midfield partnership. On 22 August 2009, he scored a double in a 4–1 win over Portsmouth. The following month, Diaby assisted on a goal in the team's 3–2 comeback win over Belgian club Standard Liège in the Champions League. After alternating between the bench and starting lineup for the rest of September, in November, Diaby returned to the first eleven and responding by scoring the game-winning goal in a 3–1 win over Birmingham City. Three weeks later, in the Champions League, he netted another goal in a group stage win over Dutch club AZ. On 7 November, Diaby picked up an injury in a 4–1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The injury resulted in the player missing France's World Cup playoff tie with the Republic of Ireland.

Diaby grabbed his fifth goal of the season in a 3–0 win over Hull City on 19 December. He also assisted on a goal in the win. A week later, Diaby scored his fourth goal overall against Aston Villa in another 3–0 victory. In the new year, Diaby began the 2010 calendar year by assisting on goals in a 2–2 draw against Everton and a 4–2 win over Bolton. On 10 February, he scored the only goal in a victory over Liverpool. Despite failing to score a goal for the rest of the season, Diaby was ever-present in the waning moments of the season starting 12 of the final 14 matches he appeared in. He finished the campaign with career-highs in matches played, goals, and assists.

Diaby began the 2010–11 season scoring a goal and issuing an assist in the team's second match of the season against Blackpool; a 6–0 win. During a match against Bolton at the Emirates Stadium on 11 September, he was injured after a challenge by Paul Robinson. Diaby was replaced in the 72nd minute by Denílson in a 4–1 win. Due to the injury, he missed two weeks and return to the team in its 3–2 loss to West Bromwich Albion. Diaby featured primarily as a substitute after returning from the injury. On 5 February 2011, he was sent off after being adjudged to have committed violent conduct on opposing midfielder Joey Barton in a league match away to Newcastle. Prior to Diaby's expulsion, Arsenal had been leading the match 4–0. The team went on to concede four unanswered goals while playing with ten men, which resulted in the club leaving St James' Park with only a point. On 10 April, Diaby scored his second goal of the season in a 3–1 win against Blackpool.

The 2011–12 season for Diaby was blighted once again by injury problems. He made just four substitute appearances during the Premier League campaign and one in the UEFA Champions League.

#### 2012–2015

With the departure of Alex Song ahead of the 2012–13 season, Diaby started all three of Arsenal's opening games. His performance against Liverpool saw him awarded Man of the Match by Sky Sports in Arsenal's 2–0 win at Anfield. However, he was later injured in Arsenal's 2–1 loss against Chelsea on 29 September and was substituted. On 13 January 2013, Diaby made his return against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium. This controversial fixture in the Premier League, saw two red cards awarded, one for each team. Arsenal lost the match 2–0. Following several spells on the sidelines during February and March, it was announced on 28 March 2013 that Diaby had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee and that after surgery, he would be out for approximately eight or nine months.

Arsenal announced that Diaby had changed his squad number from 2 to 24 for the 2013–14 season. Soon it was announced that he would be out until March 2014, following further treatment on his knee.

On 11 May 2014, Diaby returned from injury as a substitute in a 2–0 win at Norwich City in Arsenal's final match of the 2013–14 Premier League season.

On 15 November 2014, according to some English newspapers, Diaby suffered a hamstring injury which would keep him off the pitch for the next three months.

On 10 June 2015, Diaby was released by Arsenal.

### Marseille

In July 2015, Diaby signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille after being out of football since leaving Arsenal in June 2015. Following continuing injury problems in the first half of the season, he made his return on 18 March 2016, coming on as a substitute in Marseille's 5–2 home defeat to Rennes. On 3 April 2016, he started in a league match against Bastia, his first league start in over three years. Diaby ultimately made just four appearances for the season across all competitions.

In October 2016, Diaby had to undergo an operation on his right ankle after suffering for weeks with persistent pain. He was ruled out for a period of four months following the surgery.

On 25 February 2019, Diaby announced that he was retiring from football, aged 32, most recently having played for Marseille in 2017. He only appeared in 214 senior career matches. He announced his retirement on French television channel RMC's. Diaby said, "I am bringing an end to my professional career. It is the right time. For a number of years it has been difficult for me to return, with a lot of physical problems. It is a difficult decision but I have thought a lot about my decision and I am at ease with it. After Marseille, I gave myself a year to come back but it was harder than I thought, and I have decided to stop."

## International career

### Youth

Diaby played under manager Jean Gallice. Gallice, initially, called up Diaby at under-18 level for a match against Greece in November 2003. Diaby, however, was forced to withdraw from the squad after suffering an injury while playing domestically. He made his youth international debut at under-19 level in a 2–1 friendly match win over Turkey. In qualifying for the 2005 European Under-19 Football Championship, Diaby appeared in all six matches as France finished both the first qualifying round and the Elite Round undefeated. In the tournament, he missed the team's opening 1–1 group stage draw with England due to suspension, but returned to the starting lineup in the team's 3–1 victory over Norway in the second group stage match. Diaby, subsequently, started every remaining match, including the championship match against England. France won the match 3–1 giving the nation its sixth under-19 title and Diaby his first international honor. In total with the under-19 team, he featured in 12 matches and scored no goals. At under-21 level, Diaby made his debut on 28 February 2006 in a friendly match against Slovakia. He appeared as a substitute as France won the match 2–1. Due to suffering a fractured ankle domestically, Diaby missed the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Due to repetitive injuries, he missed every qualifier for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and made only one more appearance for the team, which occurred in a 1–1 draw in a friendly match with Armenia.

### Senior

On 15 March 2007, Diaby was called up to the senior team for the first time by coach Raymond Domenech for UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Lithuania and a friendly against Austria. He described the call-up as a "huge surprise" primarily because he has just returned from his ankle fracture just two months prior. Diaby made his senior international debut in the qualifier against Lithuania appearing as a substitute for Florent Malouda. He earned his first international start in the ensuing match against Austria; the game ending in a 1–0 victory for France. Following the Austria match, Diaby went without an appearance for France for three years. The midfielder experienced several call ups to the team during the three years, but either withdrew from the squad due to injury or was not preferred by Domenech for a match. Despite this, Diaby was named to Domenech's 30-man preliminary squad to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He made his return to the international scene in the team's 2–1 friendly match win over Costa Rica. Diaby was later named to the 23-man team to serve as a possible backup in the holding midfield role.

Ahead of the competition, it was reported that Domenech was considering changing up the style of play in the team's 4–3–3 formation with Malouda possibly moving from the winger role into the midfield. Following Malouda's relegation to the bench for insubordination, Diaby was inserted in his place and made his World Cup debut in the team's opening group stage match against Uruguay. The match ended 0–0 with Diaby playing the entire match. He was credited by Scottish newspaper The Scotsman as being the team's best performer in the goalless draw. Diaby featured as a starter in both of France's remaining group stage matches against Mexico and South Africa. France lost both matches as the competition ultimately ended in disastrous competitively and personally due to the players going on strike in response to its disagreement over the expulsion of striker Nicolas Anelka from the team. As a result of the players' mutiny, Diaby, along with the 22 other members of the team, were suspended for the team's friendly match against Norway.

Under manager Laurent Blanc, Diaby was penciled in as a starter in the team's first two competitive matches of the new season. After playing the entire match in a 2–0 victory over Luxembourg, he missed the victory against England due to injury. Diaby returned to the team for its 9 February 2011 friendly against Brazil. He appeared as a second-half substitute for Yann M'Vila as France cruised to a 1–0 win. In March 2011, Diaby was called back into the team for matches against Luxembourg and Croatia, but, for the second time in the season, withdrew from the team due to injury. He returned to the team in June 2011 for a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Belarus and friendly matches against Poland and Ukraine. Diaby featured in all three matches. Due to injuries during the 2011–12 season, he missed UEFA Euro 2012.

After over a year without an appearance at international level, Diaby returned to the national team in September 2012 under new manager Didier Deschamps. In his first appearance since June 2011, he scored his first international goal in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Finland.

## Style of play

Diaby is often described as a typical box-to-box midfielder; a midfielder who is adept both offensively and defensively. While he can play as a defensive midfielder, Diaby has often attempted to distance himself from that position, admitting that "I am better if I have a holding midfielder with me". His club manager Arsène Wenger describes him similarly stating "He (Diaby) is more of an offensive player. He is not a defensive-minded player and he's not a holding player. He's a player who crosses the field at ease, goes from box to box like it's no distance and has good power as well". During his early years with Auxerre, he was often used as an attacking midfielder or a support striker due to his technical ability, close control, and dexterity to dribble past opponents or slip passes to teammates.

Upon signing with Arsenal, club manager Wenger likened the player to former club player Patrick Vieira. Wenger compared the two primarily because of the similarities between each player's physical appearance and positional preference. While the two are similar in appearance, Diaby has admitted that there are huge differences, stating, "I think maybe I am more attack-minded, a more technical player," and, "Vieira is much more aggressive. He makes more of a physical impact in a game, in midfield. He is amazing. I don’t think I have this quality yet. I think I can develop in that way but he is much stronger." In 2009, Wenger echoed Diaby's sentiments, stating, "I believe Vieira was more of a passer of the ball. Diaby is more of a dribbler, more offensive and makes more penetrating runs. Vieira was more of a constructor. They have a similar elegance and type of play but are not completely comparable".

Diaby was often described as being injury-prone. After returning from a fractured ankle injury in late 2006, the midfielder endured persistent niggling injuries that resulted in Diaby failing to play a full season for Arsenal. During his second season at Auxerre, a season in which he was expected to get some significant playing time, Diaby failed to gain the confidence of manager Jacques Santini primarily due to repetitive injuries he endured during the autumn portion of the 2005–06 season. After returning to the team, Diaby struggled to return to form, which ultimately resulted in his sale to Arsenal. His highest output for appearances with Arsenal came in the 2009–10 season when he played in 40 matches of Arsenal's total of 55 competitive matches in the season.

## Career statistics

### Club

### International

Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Diaby goal.

## Honours

Arsenal

- FA Cup: 2013–14
- Football League Cup runner-up: 2006–07

France U19

- UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2005

French footballer

France men's under-21 international footballers

France men's youth international footballers

French expatriate sportspeople in England