Election themes included a reduction of income tax[citation needed] and VAT on food.

[2] The election debates were characterised by the high economic growth in Finland in recent years, which was thought to mean the government would have extra money to use on welfare services and transfer payments.

According to the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the number of advance voters rose in comparison with the previous election in 2003.

Former Prime Minister (1995–2003) and Speaker of the outgoing Parliament, Paavo Lipponen left his seat, as did the fifth-longest serving minister of all time, Jan-Erik Enestam, and former Left Alliance party leader Suvi-Anne Siimes, who had harshly criticized her party after her resignation as chairman in 2006.

Her case, made seemingly even more unfair by her impressive personal total of 7,802 votes, greater than that of most of those elected, has been held up in the media as a symbol of the flaws in the present system.

The case has sparked a multi-party initiative that could result in a reform, to become effective in the 2015 parliamentary elections at the earliest.

The outcome led to the formation of a new center-right government and the left-leaning Social Democrats were left out in opposition for the first time since 1995.

The election was a major defeat (8 seats lost, 15% fewer won than in 2003) for the Social Democrats, and sparked an internal investigation.

The association between the two organizations was abundantly clear, as the SDP's chairman Eero Heinäluoma was a former SAK director.