Movement Now

Movement Now Liike Nyt (Finnish) Rörelse Nu (Swedish)[1]
Abbreviation	Finnish: Liik Swedish: RN
Chairperson	Harry Harkimo
Secretary	Petteri Redsven
General Secretary	Iina Ilmarinen
Parliamentary group leader	Harry Harkimo
Deputy chair	Panu Peitsaro
Founders	Harry Harkimo Mikael Jungner Alex Nieminen [fi] Helene Auramo Karoliina Kähönen Sarian Antila Tuomas Enbuske
Founded	18 April 2018 (2018-04-18)
Split from	National Coalition Party
Headquarters	Simonkatu 2B, 00100 Helsinki
Youth wing	Liike Nyt Nuoret [fi]
Women's wing	Liikkeen Naiset [fi]
Membership (2018)	8,000
Ideology	Economic liberalism Soft Euroscepticism Direct democracy
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	Five Star Direct Democracy (2019) Non-Inscrits (2019–present)
Colors	Fuchsia
Eduskunta	1 / 200
European Parliament	0 / 15
Municipalities	49 / 8,859
County seats	20 / 1,379
Website
liikenyt.fi
Politics of Finland Political parties Elections

Movement Now^[2] (MN; Finnish: Liike Nyt [ˈliːke nyt], Liik; Swedish: Rörelse Nu, RN) is an economically liberal political party in Finland.^[3]

It was founded by then-National Coalition Party (NCP) member of parliament Harry Hjallis Harkimo and six other people as a political movement. The movement was registered as a party on 14 November 2019.^[4] It is positioned on the centre-right of the political spectrum.^[5] Among young people this party is 20 times more popular than among the general population.^[6]

History

On 19 April 2018, member of parliament Harry Harkimo announced that he would resign from his party, the National Coalition Party. On 21 April, he announced that he had founded a political movement of his own called Movement Now.^[7] The movement had been founded by him and seven others and registered with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office [fi] one day before Harkimo's resignation from the NCP.^[8] The seven founding members are Harkimo, former SDP party secretary Mikael Jungner, Alex Nieminen [fi], Helene Auramo, Karoliina Kähönen, Sarian Antila, and Tuomas Enbuske.^[9]

Harkimo subsequently formed a one-man parliamentary group,^[10] the Movement Now parliamentary group [fi], in the Parliament of Finland.^[11] On 21 January 2019, an MP of the Blue Reform and former Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Maria Lohela announced that she would leave the Blue Reform in order to join Liike Nyt's parliamentary group.^[12] In addition to the Parliament, the movement has gained members in municipalities. The group Parempi Heinola in the city assembly of Heinola joined Liike Nyt. With its eight members out of a total of 43, the movement is the largest in Heinola.^[13][14] A similar association with the Uusi Jämsä group of Jämsä was agreed upon in August 2018. Uusi Jämsä was the third largest group in the city council when joining the movement with its six members.^[15]

In the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, Harkimo was elected to the parliament as the sole representative from Movement Now.^[16] 115 candidates stood for election, short of the movement's target of 150.^[17] Besides Harkimo, candidates included another founder of the party Auramo, and the former's parliamentary assistant [fi] Mirita Saxberg.^[18] Because the movement was not a registered party, each of its candidates had to gather signatures of at least 100 voters to form a constituency association [fi].^[17] The party used controversial microtargeting in its campaign advertising.^[19]

In June 2019, Harkimo announced that the Movement Now would start collecting signed support cards in order to become a registered political party.^[20] The Ministry of Justice announced on 14 November 2019 that Movement Now had been registered as a political party.^[21]

Political stances

Hjallis Harkimo is the founder and chairperson of the party.

Thirty core principles were agreed upon by members. Besides these, candidates are not aligned ideologically with the group and are allowed to take independent stances on local issues. Election themes include Baltic Sea clean up and social security for entrepreneurs.^[22]

The party defends generally liberal policies. In economics, it supports reducing the corporate tax and what they see as unnecessary regulations on businesses, and in social policy, the party defends legalizing the sale of alcohol in grocery stores.

In international policy, although the party believes that the European Union has been beneficial for Finland in many respects, the Euro currency has not, and that the debt and migration crises, along with Brexit, has forced the EU to reconsider in which areas Brussels is needed and where it is not. The party opposes a European State.

It also supports achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, instead of the Marin government's target of 2035, believing the latter to be unrealistic. The party also supports nuclear power.

The party believes in expanding private health care as a way of reducing queues in public health facilities.

It also believes that Finland should adopt a national D visa entitling skilled migrants to work while at the same time keeping out migrants who would be a burden on society. The party also advocates reforming the asylum system and mandating that immigrants should be integrated so that they become part of Finnish society, and that employment plans should be drawn up for all immigrants over the age of 18. It also believes that all incoming immigrants should prove that they will be active members in Finnish society, and that those who provide false information or committed serious crimes such as terrorism should be deported.

The main six principles of the party are:^[23]

1. Everybody should be taken care of
2. A free market is a good way to develop society, if its rules are fair
3. Climate change is real and decisions must be taken in an environmentally sustainable manner
4. Entrepreneurship is the most effective way to do things if given space
5. Valuing the individual
6. Pro-Europeanism

Election results

Parliament of Finland

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
2019	69,427	2.25	1 / 200	New	Opposition
2023	74,962	2.42	1 / 200	0	Opposition

European Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2024	9,641	0.53 (#10)	0 / 15	New	–

Municipal elections

Election	Councillors	Votes	%
2021	49	38,943	1.6

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	1st round		2nd round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
2024	Hjallis Harkimo	17,013	0.5 (#9)			Lost

Organization

The party's headquarters are on Abrahaminkatu in Helsinki.^[24] The party has about 8,000 members,^[25] and employs four people full-time.^[24] The chairperson of the party is Harry Harkimo.^[9]

See also

• Elections in Finland
• National Coalition Party

References

1. "Här är listan på alla som är med i Harkimos nya rörelse". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). 23 April 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
2. "Extra-parliamentary parties band together ahead of April elections". Yle News. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
3. Karkkola, Minna (7 May 2018). "Tutkija löysi paradoksin Hjallis Harkimon liikkeestä: 'Saadaanko tavoitteella tismalleen päinvastainen lopputulos?'". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
4. "Liike NYT merkittiin puoluerekisteriin". 14 November 2019.
5. "Finland - Parties". Europe Elects. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
6. Merikukka, Salla (16 January 2024). "Nuorten vaaleissa annettiin ennätykselliset 94 456 ääntä – nuorten suosikki presidentiksi on Alexander Stubb". Allianssi (in Finnish). Retrieved 27 January 2024.
7. "NCP defector Harkimo co-founds new political movement – 'Not a party'". Yle Uutiset. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
8. Honkamaa, Antti; Nykänen, Riika (19 April 2018). "Harkimo on perustamassa uutta yhdistystä: Liike Nyt ry:n tiedoista paljastuu kiinnostava nimi". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
9. Räsänen, Jukka-Pekka (21 April 2018). "Nimet julki: he ovat Liike Nytin taustalla". Savon Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
10. Ijäs, Johannes (27 April 2018). "Harkimo (liik) siirretään perussuomalaisten ja keskustan väliin takariviin". Demokraatti (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
11. "Members of Parliament". Parliament of Finland. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
12. "Kansanedustaja Maria Lohela loikkaa sinisistä Harkimon Liike Nytiin – sote-uudistus vaarassa kaatua". Yle. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
13. Nieminen, Janne (14 June 2018). "Parempi Heinola -yhdistys mukaan Liike Nytiin – Harkimon mukaan kiinnostusta on muuallakin, kuten Kärkölässä". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
14. "Valtuusto" (in Finnish). City of Heinola. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
15. "Harkimo kaappasi jo toisen valtuustoryhmän maakunnasta – Uusi Jämsä liittyy Liike Nytiin" (in Finnish). Yle. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
16. "Pienryhmistä ei eduskuntaan mennä, poikkeuksena vain Hjallis Harkimo". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
17. "Liike Nyt jäi tavoitteestaan – ei saanut kasaan 150 ehdokasta eduskuntavaaleihin". Uusi Suomi (in Finnish). 6 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
18. Vartiainen, Niko; Nalbantoglu, Minna (7 January 2019). "Liike Nyt asetti ensimmäiset ehdokkaansa eduskuntavaaleihin". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
19. Mansikka, Ossi (14 March 2019). "Trumpin valinnan ja brexitin ratkaisi osin somessa tehtävä mikrotargetointi – Suomessa kaksi puoluetta tekee samaa". Nyt (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
20. "Harkimon Liike Nyt aikoo rekisteröityä puolueeksi – "Jouduin nöyrtymään"" (in Finnish). Yle. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
21. "Liike Nyt merkittiin puoluerekisteriin" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
22. "Movement Now announces parliamentary election bid". Yle Uutiset. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
23. "Liikkeen kuusi perusperiaatetta". Liike Nyt (in Finnish). Retrieved 28 June 2021.
24. Lohilahti, Oona (7 July 2018). "Liike Nyt on hankkinut toimiston ja työntekijöitä, ensi viikolla julkaistaan toisen nettiäänestyksen tulokset – siinä saattaa myös ratketa Harry Harkimon sote-kanta". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 30 July 2018.
25. Välimaa, Mikko (25 April 2018). "Harkimon ja Jungnerin Liike Nyt houkutellut liki 7 700 ihmistä – 'Haemme nyt aktiiveja Helsingin ulkopuolelle'". Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 June 2018.

Further reading

• Harkimo, Hjallis (2018). Suoraan sanottuna (in Finnish). Helsinki: WSOY. ISBN 9789510436479.

External links

• Official website (in Finnish)