True Finns

True Finns (Finnish: Perussuomalaiset, PS; Swedish: Sannfinländarna) is a nationalist populist political party in Finland, founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The head of the movement is Timo Soini. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election True Finns won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party in the Finnish Parliament.

The party combines left-wing economic policies with strongly conservative social values. In the parliament seating order, it has been placed in the centre-left. The party has been compared by the London Financial Times with the Tea Party movement in the United States, and other similar nationalist movements in Europe that are critical of globalization.

After its founding in 1995, it took some time before True Finns started to win credible ground in the Finnish elections. At the time of its founding the party had one MP, Raimo Vistbacka, who was reelected in the 1999 election. In the 2003 parliamentary elections, the party gained three seats. In the 2007 parliamentary election, the party gained 2 further seats for a total of 5. In the 2008 municipal election the party won the most voters in districts where the Social Democratic Party and the Left Alliance lost most. According to the party secretary, the True Finns gained most voters from the Center Party, the Social Democrats, the National Coalition, and the Left Alliance.