Finland’s Parliament took its present form after the parliamentary reform of 1906. Behind this reform was the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 which Russia lost. The war caused unrest in Russia and a general strike which led to the formation of the duma.

The period of unrest also led to a general strike in Finland which took place in October-November of 1905. The strike was the first show of strength of the Finnish labour movement.

Following on from the demonstrations and mass meetings held in Helsinki, and the demands that issued from them, on the first of November on Tampere’s central square a red declaration was made.

This called for general and equal suffrage as well as a transfer of power to a national assembly designed to replace the Senate, freely formed and independent of class status. The manifesto of 1899 was to be cancelled and the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland was to be extended, although full independence was not called for.

Following the general strike Tsar Nicholas II issued a manifesto in November and at this point the first period of oppression is considered to have ended. At the same time permission was granted for the creation of a representative institution based on general and equal suffrage.

In Finland in December 1905 an extraordinary Diet was called to implement parliamentary reform. At the same time other laws considered central to democratic development were taken into consideration: the law pertaining to parliament’s right to scrutinize the legality of government members’ actions, the law pertaining to freedom of speech, assembly and association as well as the law pertaining to the freedom of the press.

Nicholas II passed these laws and ordered that the reform should take effect from October 1st 1906.

The reform replaced the Diet with the most modern, unicameral parliament of its time.

General and equal suffrage as well as proportional representation at that time were still relatively rare. The reform gave the vote to women in general elections for the first time in Europe.

Women in Finland also became the first in the Europe to be eligible for election. The number of Finnish people entitled to vote rose by ten times to 1, 272,873, once women and previously unenfranchised men got the vote. The minimum age to vote and stand for parliament was set at 24 years.

In the spring parliamentary elections of 1907 a total of 19 female representatives were chosen. The first session of the unicameral parliament was held 23.5.1907.