2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs
Bill Haas won the FedEx Cup by winning the Tour Championship in a playoff.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs
These were the fifth FedEx Cup playoffs since their inception in 2007.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Barclays
The Barclays was played August 25–28. Of the 125 players eligible to play in the event, two did not enter: Charl Schwartzel (ranked 21) and J. B. Holmes (66). The PGA Tour announced on Friday, August 26 that the event would be shortened to 54-holes due to the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Irene on Sunday, August 28. Of the 123 entrants, 72 made the second-round cut at 138 (−4).


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Barclays
Dustin Johnson won by two strokes over defending champion Matt Kuchar and moved to first place in the standings. The top 100 players in the points standings advanced to the Deutsche Bank Championship. This included eight players who were outside the top 100 prior to The Barclays: Camilo Villegas, Chris Stroud, Ian Poulter, Pádraig Harrington, Bill Lunde, William McGirt, John Merrick and Ernie Els.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Deutsche Bank Championship
The Deutsche Bank Championship was played September 2–5. Of the 100 players eligible to play in the event, one did not enter: J. B. Holmes. Of the 99 entrants, 78 made the second-round cut at one-over-par, 143


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Deutsche Bank Championship
Webb Simpson won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff over Chez Reavie. Simpson moved to first place in the standings. The top 70 players in the points standings advanced to the BMW Championship. This included eight players who were outside the top 70 prior to the Deutsche Bank Championship: Chez Reavie, Blake Adams, Chad Campbell, Andrés Romero, Johnson Wagner, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, and Chris Stroud.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, BMW Championship
The BMW Championship was played September 15–18, after a one-week break. All 70 players eligible to play in the event did so. There was no cut.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, BMW Championship
The top 30 players in FedEx Cup points after this event advanced to the Tour Championship and also earned spots in the 2012 Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, and (British) Open Championship.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, BMW Championship
Justin Rose won the event by two strokes over John Senden and moved to third in the rankings. Three players who were outside the top 30 prior to the BMW Championship played their way into the Tour Championship: Justin Rose, John Senden, and Geoff Ogilvy.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, BMW Championship
With the FedEx Cup points reset after the BMW Championship, all 30 remaining players have at least a mathematical chance to secure the season crown, and any of the top five players can claim the FedEx Cup with a win in the Tour Championship.


2011 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Tour Championship
The Tour Championship was played September 22–25. All 30 golfers who qualified for the tournament played, and there was no cut. Bill Haas won the tournament, in a playoff over Hunter Mahan, and the FedEx Cup.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election
The Feltham and Heston by-election was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Feltham and Heston in the London Borough of Hounslow. The by-election was caused by the death of its Member of Parliament Alan Keen. It took place on 15 December 2011, and was held by the Labour Party candidate, Seema Malhotra.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Boundaries
Feltham and Heston covers the western end of the London Borough of Hounslow. Feltham lies in the western half of the constituency, Heston in the north. At the south of the constituency lies Hanworth, with Bedfont in the west. Across the parliamentary and borough boundary to the south-east lies Twickenham. Feltham & Heston shares the London Borough of Hounslow with the Brentford and Isleworth parliamentary constituency.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Boundaries
The constituency comprises ten electoral wards of the Borough of Hounslow: Bedfont, Cranford, Feltham North, Feltham West, Hanworth, Hanworth Park, Heston Central, Heston East, Heston West, and Hounslow West.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Constituency profile
Most parts of the Feltham and Heston constituency are lower on the socio-economic scale than those in neighbouring Brentford and Isleworth. There is a higher proportion of social housing, though unemployment is low by London standards. The seat also includes parts of Hounslow itself.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Constituency profile
To the North and West, just over the border in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is London Heathrow Airport where many local constituents are employed, while there is considerable small industry in the Heston area. The constituency includes a Young Offenders Institution and a motorway service station.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Candidates
On 24 November 2011, the UK Independence Party chose Andrew Charalambous, a former nightclub owner and Conservative Party electoral candidate. The Conservative candidate was named as Hounslow Councillor Mark Bowen on the same day.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Candidates
Labour chose Seema Malhotra as their candidate on 27 November 2011 after a quickfire selection from four other candidates. Malhotra is the Director of Fabian's Women Network and was a Chair of the Fabian Society. Dave Furness was selected by the British National Party on 29 November 2011, the same day as Roger Crouch was confirmed as the Liberal Democrats nominee. Crouch is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats' Chinese branch.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Candidates
Roger Cooper is the English Democrat Party chairman for their London region. David Bishop stood in the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election in addition to being one of the 26 candidates at the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election. His website explains that his party was created in protest at the capitalist system which turned Elvis Presley "into a fat media joke." George Hallam stood on a socialist platform against austerity cuts and in favour of high rates of income tax for the highest earners. He was a candidate at the 2010 general election in the Lewisham East seat under the ballot paper description "Community Need Before Private Greed". The Green Party candidate, Daniel Goldsmith, is an IT consultant from Chiswick.


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Result
The result was marked by a particularly low turnout of 28.8%, the lowest since Tottenham, April 2000 (25.4%) and West Bromwich West, November 2000 (27.3%).


2011 Feltham and Heston by-election, Result
Whilst a low turnout is generally expected at by-elections, such a low turnout surprised many experts who attributed it to a couple of main factors: the relatively short space of time between the death of the sitting MP (Alan Keen) and the by-election, only 35 days in this case when the average since 1979 is 73; and the time of year, as it was held close to Christmas and during the long and cold winter nights. The electorate was 80,813.


2011 Fenland District Council election
The 2011 Fenland District Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.


2011 Fenland District Council election, Background
In the 2007 election, the Conservatives won 39 of the 40 seats, with the only other seat being won by an independent. However, in April 2010 Liberal Democrat Dave Patrick gained a seat at a by-election from the Conservatives in Kirkgate ward.


2011 Fenland District Council election, Background
A total of 96 candidates stood in the election for the 40 seats on the council. 2 Conservatives candidates were unopposed at the election, Martin Curtis in Kingsmoor and Pop Jolley in Wimblington, a substantial drop from the number at the 2007 election. For the other 38 seats the candidates were 38 Conservatives, 20 Labour, 19 Liberal Democrats, 10 independents, 4 United Kingdom Independence Party and 3 Green Party. The most candidates were in Waterlees ward in Wisbech, where 9 candidates stood for 2 seats on the council.


2011 Fenland District Council election, Election result
The Conservatives retained control of the council, but their majority was reduced slightly. They won 34 of the 40 seats on the council, after losing 4 seats, 3 to independents and 1 to the Liberal Democrats. The wins for the Conservatives included Will Sutton in Elm and Christchurch, where he defeated the former Conservative member of the cabinet Phil Webb, who been deselected before the election and stood as an independent. Conservative leader of the council Alan Melton, who comfortably held his own seat in Birch ward in Chatteris, said he was "ecstatic" at the results, which he said showed support for his party's policies.


2011 Fenland District Council election, Election result
The Conservatives losses came in Waterlees, where independents Michael and Virginia Bucknor gained both seats from the Conservatives, and in March West where independent Rob Skoulding took one of the three seats. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Gavin Booth gained one of the two seats in Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary from the Conservatives. After independent Mark Archer and Liberal Democrat Dave Patrick held their seats, this meant the opposition on the council was 4 independent and 2 Liberal Democrat councillors.


2011 Fergana Challenger
The 2011 Fergana Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 12th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2011 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Fergana, Uzbekistan between 16 and 21 May 2011.


2011 Fergana Challenger, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Fergana Challenger, Champions, Doubles
John Paul Fruttero /  Raven Klaasen def. Im Kyu-tae /  Danai Udomchoke, 6–0, 6–3


2011 Fergana Challenger – Doubles
Brendan Evans and Toshihide Matsui were the defending champions, but Evans decided not to play this year. Matsui teams up with Divij Sharan, but lost in the second round to Im Kyu-tae and Danai Udomchoke. Kyu-tae and Udomchoke went on to lose the final 0–6, 3–6 against John Paul Fruttero and Raven Klaasen.


2011 Fergana Challenger – Singles
Evgeny Kirillov was the defending champion. He retired in his second round's match against Yang Tsung-hua. Dudi Sela won in the final 6–2, 6–1, against Greg Jones.


2011 Fergana Valley earthquake
The 2011 Fergana Valley earthquake affected Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan at 01:35 local time on 20 July. The dip-slip shock had a moment magnitude of 6.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Its epicenter was located just inside Kyrgyzstan's border in the Fergana Valley region. Fourteen were killed and eighty-six were injured.


2011 Fergana Valley earthquake, Impact
In Khujand, Tajikistan, one man was killed after panicking during the tremor and jumping out of a window. Fourteen people in Uzbekistan had been confirmed dead, while another 86 sustained injuries, of which 35 were hospitalized. Many houses in Fergana Region were damaged, with cracked walls. Numerous small houses in Margilan were destroyed. Many residents panicked and ran into the streets. A rockfall closed a highway between Batken and Osh. Apartment blocks in the city of Fergana were evacuated. At least 800 houses were damaged. Power was briefly knocked out in Kadamzhai, Tulgone, Kyzyl-Bulun, Halmion, Ohne, Yargutane, and Tamas. A hospital in Hamza, Uzbekistan was severely damaged.


2011 Fermanagh District Council election
Elections to Fermanagh District Council were held on 5 May 2011 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.


2011 Fermanagh District Council election, Districts results, Enniskillen
2005: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP2011: 2 x UUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP2005-2011 Change: UUP gain from SDLP


2011 Fermanagh District Council election, Districts results, Erne East
2005: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP2011: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP2005-2011 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP


2011 Fermanagh District Council election, Districts results, Erne North
2005: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP2011: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP2005-2011 Change: No change


2011 Fermanagh District Council election, Districts results, Erne West
2005: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP2011: 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent2005-2011 Change: Independent leaves Sinn Féin


2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election
The 2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election was called by party leader Brian Cowen on 22 January 2011, when he announced that he was resigning as president and leader of the party. He remained as Taoiseach until after the 2011 general election.


2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election
The deadline for nominations closed at 1 p.m. on 24 January, and the new leader was elected at a special Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on 26 January. Micheál Martin was elected as the party's eighth leader.


2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Results
Only TDs who were members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party were eligible to vote. Jimmy Devins rejoined the parliamentary party on 25 January, a day before the leadership election, bringing the total number of eligible voters to 72.


2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election, Results
RTÉ News reported that Martin had received 33 first preference votes, compared to Ó Cuív's 15, Lenihan's 14 and Hanafin's 10; it added that the election ended on the third count, with Ó Cuív the runner-up. When Hanafin had been eliminated and her votes redistributed, Ó Cuív and Lenihan were equal on 18 votes each; Lenihan was then eliminated, having received fewer first preferences.


2011 Fiesta Bowl
The 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game between the Connecticut Huskies (UConn), co-champions of the Big East Conference, and the Oklahoma Sooners, champions of the Big 12 Conference, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January 1, 2011. The game, part of the 2011 Bowl Championship Series and the 40th contest in Fiesta Bowl history, was the final game of the 2010 NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-FBS) football season for both teams. It ended in a 48–20 victory for Oklahoma.


2011 Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma was selected to participate in the Fiesta Bowl after an 11–2 regular season that culminated with a 23–20 win over Nebraska in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game. Facing the Sooners were the Connecticut Huskies with a regular season record of 8–4; they earned the Big East's BCS berth by defeating fellow co-champions Pittsburgh and West Virginia in consecutive regular season games. Pregame coverage focused on Oklahoma's struggles in past BCS games dating back to the 2004 Sugar Bowl as well as Connecticut's difficulties in selling their designated ticket allotment from the Fiesta Bowl.


2011 Fiesta Bowl
The Sooners scored on their first two possessions and held a 14–0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Huskies responded with an interception return for a touchdown early in the second quarter; after an exchange of field goals the halftime score was 20–10 in favor of Oklahoma. In the second half, Oklahoma pulled away with multiple passing and interception-return touchdowns. While Connecticut responded with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, they failed to score a touchdown on offense at any point during the game.


2011 Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones was named the game's most valuable player on offense; defensive back Jamell Fleming was named the defensive most valuable player. Jones had a school bowl record of 429 passing yards; he completed three passes for touchdowns. Within 24 hours following the game Connecticut suffered two notable defections: running back Jordan Todman announced that he was leaving school early to enter the 2011 NFL Draft and head coach Randy Edsall was hired as the new head coach at the University of Maryland. In the wake of the 2011 contest, the Fiesta Bowl released an internal report stating that several members illegally gave campaign contributions and were reimbursed for it.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection
The Fiesta Bowl was one of five Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games that plays at the conclusion of the college football season. As defined by contract, the bowl matches up the champion of the Big 12 Conference against an at-large pick. On December 4, 2010, the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 23–20 in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game to earn the automatic bid to the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection
The at-large spot in the Fiesta Bowl was filled via a round-robin selection procedure defined by the other Bowl Championship series games and the automatic bids. The order of at-large selections rotates annually among the BCS bowls. In 2011, the Sugar Bowl picked first, followed by the Orange Bowl, then the Fiesta Bowl. Uniquely in 2011, the Rose Bowl was obligated to choose a non-automatic qualifier in place of the Pac-10 Champion, Oregon. The Sugar Bowl picked Ohio State, while the Orange Bowl selected Stanford. The Fiesta Bowl was thus left to select Big East Conference champion Connecticut.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Connecticut
The Huskies entered the 2010 season having gone 8–5 in 2009 culminating with a win at the PapaJohns.com Bowl against South Carolina. At the start of the season, Connecticut was picked to finish fourth in the Big East in a media poll with eight starters returning on offense and seven on defense.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Connecticut
The Huskies started the season with a 30–10 loss to Michigan at Ann Arbor. The Huskies returned home and won handily over Texas Southern with a score of 62–3. However, they lost to their next opponent, Temple, by the score of 30–16. Wins over Buffalo and Vanderbilt closed out their non-conference schedule.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Connecticut
At the start of conference play, the Huskies’ record was 3–2. They suffered a close 27–24 loss to Rutgers and a 26–0 shutout loss to Louisville. Returning home, they won an overtime 16–13 match against West Virginia. The Huskies also beat conference favorite Pittsburgh 30–28. The Huskies also won on the road at Syracuse by the score of 23–6. Returning home, they defeated Cincinnati. In their final conference game, the Huskies were able to win a close game 19–16 at South Florida. By winning at South Florida, they won a share of the Big East title with West Virginia and Pittsburgh. Victories over both opponents give Connecticut the conference BCS berth.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Connecticut
This was Connecticut's first Fiesta Bowl appearance, as well as its only BCS bowl.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Oklahoma
Oklahoma entered the season coming off a disappointing 8–5 season with a Sun Bowl victory against Stanford. At the start of the season, Oklahoma was picked to win the Big 12 South in the preseason media poll as well as being ranked in the #7 in the AP Poll and #8 in the Coaches Poll.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Oklahoma
Oklahoma kicked off its season with a win over Utah State. For their next game, the Sooners played host to #17 Florida State, which they won 47–17. Oklahoma had a narrow victory 27–24 win over Air Force. The Sooners' first road game came against Cincinnati, which was also a narrow victory of 31–29.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s first conference game was against rival #21 Texas at the Red River Rivalry in Dallas, which the Sooners won 28–20. Oklahoma then won easily against Iowa State and lost at #11 Missouri, 36–27. Oklahoma won against Colorado, but faced another road loss to Texas A&M. After the loss, the Sooners were able to defeat Texas Tech and Baylor handily before Bedlam at Oklahoma State. Oklahoma defeated Oklahoma State by the score of 47–41 to earn a three-way share of the division title. Since Oklahoma held the higher BCS rank, they were the one to face Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship game.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Team selection, Oklahoma
Oklahoma beat #13 Nebraska in the final Big 12 Championship game by the score of 23–20 to win the conference’s BCS bid.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup
A majority of the discussion of the before the Fiesta Bowl was about the matchups and the disparity between the two teams. There was also talk of Oklahoma’s past Fiesta Bowl woes including past losses to Boise State and West Virginia. Also, there was some discussion of how many unsold tickets there were from each school, especially from Connecticut fans, many of whom would have to travel cross country, and the fact the university may have to absorb the debt from any tickets that they do not sell.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Offensive matchups
Connecticut’s offense was primarily led by Jordan Todman. He had rushed for a total of 1,574 yard prior to the Fiesta Bowl. Todman had averaged 27 carries per game with an average of 5.3 yards per attempt as well averaged 143.1 yards per game.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Offensive matchups
Connecticut’s pass offense was ranked 112th out of 120 teams in the country. Quarterback Zach Frazer had only one 200 yard game in 2010 and had only completed 52.7 percent of his 222 passes for 1,202 yards. For the season, Frazier had five touchdowns.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Offensive matchups
The Sooners offense was led by Landry Jones. He had completed a school record of 371 completions for 4,289 yards. Jones was also third in the nation with 35 touchdown passes. DeMarco Murray was Oklahoma’s all time leader in all purpose yards with 6,626 yards and 64 touchdowns. For the 2010 season, he had over 1,900 combined yards and scored 19 touchdowns. In receiving, sophomore Ryan Broyles had a school record of 118 receptions gaining 1,452 yards as well as scoring 13 touchdowns.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Offensive matchups
Oklahoma’s offense ran 1,131 plays in the 2010 season, averaged 87 per game, which were 200 more than the next closest team. Oklahoma was fourth in the nation in passing with 336.8 yards per game, 13th in total offense with 478.1 yards per game, and was 17th in scored with 36.4 points per game.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Defensive matchups
In the last five games before the Fiesta Bowl, Connecticut had intercepted ten passes and recovered seven fumbles. In that span, they had allowed fewer than 20 points, in addition to having a plus 12 turnover ratio. The Huskies defense was ranked 16th in the nation in pass efficiency defense.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Defensive matchups
Oklahoma was ranked 58th in total defense coming into the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma allowed 151.8 yards per rushing per game and was ranked 63rd in the nation.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Pregame buildup, Defensive matchups
The Sooners had several stand out players on defense, one being defensive end Jeremy Beal. Beal was the first player in school history to earn 200 yards in lost sacks. In 2010, he had eight and a half sacks and 18 tackles for loss.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary
The 2011 Fiesta Bowl kicked off on January 1, 2011 at 8:30 PM ET. The game was nationally televised on ESPN, with a television rating of 6.7 for the broadcast. 67,232 people attended the game in person.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, First quarter
Oklahoma won the coin toss and elected to defer possession until the start of the second half. The Huskies returned the kickoff to their 19-yard line where they started their possession. Connecticut’s first possession consisted of three rushing plays for a total gain of 9 yards. Connecticut was forced to punt. Oklahoma started their first possession from their own 30-yard line. The Sooners completed several passes and running plays for a 9 plays, 70-yard drive ending with an 8-yard passing touchdown from Landry Jones to James Hanna.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, First quarter
When Connecticut regained possession after the post-touchdown kickoff, they were able to move down the field for a 15-play, 55-yard drive which included a 14-yard pass to Ryan Griffin and 11-yard pass to Kashif Moore. On the 19-yard line on 4th down with one yard to go, Randy Edsall decided to run for the down instead of kicking for a field goal, which was stopped for no gain.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, First quarter
Oklahoma took over on downs from their 19-yard line. After a 12-yard pass to Cameron Kenney and three rushing gains from DeMarco Murray, the Sooners were already at midfield. On the seventh play Jones passed to Ryan Broyles for a 39-yard gain to end up on the Connecticut 6-yard line. Two plays later, DeMarco Murray rushed for a 3-yard touchdown.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, First quarter
At the end of the first quarter, Oklahoma led Connecticut by the score of 14–0.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Second quarter
At the start of the second quarter, Connecticut had possession of the ball however they were unable to gain any yards and went three and out and was forced to punt. When Oklahoma regained possession on third down, Landry Jones was intercepted by Dwayne Gratz at Oklahoma's 46-yard line which was returned for a touchdown. The interception touchdown cut Oklahoma’s lead to 14–7.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Second quarter
The Sooners gained possession at their own 20-yard line. On the third play Jones completed a 35-yard pass to Broyles to bring them to the Connecticut's 39-yard line. Two plays later Jones competed a pass to Stills, which was fumbled and recovered by Oklahoma. After a four-yard rushing loss to Connecticut 27-yard line, Oklahoma converted a 41-yard field goal.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Second quarter
On Connecticut's next possession, the Huskies were forced to punt after a 6-play, 11-yard drive stalled at their 40-yard line after a costly Substitution Infraction penalty on the offense on third down and four. Punting the ball back to the Sooners, Oklahoma was able to move the ball on a series of short passes and DeMarco Murray runs to drive 67 yards to the Huskies 8-yard line. Unable to connect on third and goal pass, the drive ended with a 24-yard field goal to extend the lead to 20–7.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Second quarter
The Huskies received good field position at their own 44-yard line with a 34-yard kickoff return by Nick Williams. On second down, Jordan Todman rushed for 19 yards to the Oklahoma 37-yard line. Then Zach Frazer, completed a 12 pass to Isiah Moore to reach the Oklahoma 25-yard line. An additional one-yard rush and four-yard pass brought the Huskies to the Oklahoma 20. Unable to convert on third down, they scored a 37-yard field goal.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Third quarter
Oklahoma received the ball at the start of the third quarter; however their drive ended after only three plays. Connecticut's possession didn't fare much better, going only five plays before having to punt back to Oklahoma. On Oklahoma's next possession on third and nine, Landry Jones completed a 20-yard pass to Ryan Broyles to reach their 49-yard line. On the next play, Jones threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Kenney.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Third quarter
When Connecticut regained the ball, Zach Frazer completed a 26-yard gain to Kashif Moore to bring them to their 49-yard line. Two plays later, the drive ended when Zach Frazer was intercepted by defensive back Jamell Fleming on Oklahoma's 45-yard line. Fleming ran the ball 55 yards for a touchdown, bringing the score to 34–10.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Third quarter
On the ensuing kick-off, Robbie Frey ran 95 yards for a Connecticut touchdown. Oklahoma’s next drive was a short three and out when the Connecticut’s defense able to stop two Murray rush attempts and a pass to him on third down. On the Huskies following possession, Jordan Todman was able to rush for 11 and 12 yards to reach the Oklahoma 48. A 19-yard pass to Anthony Sherman help the Huskies to reach the Oklahoma 24-yard line. A three-yard run from Todman and two incomplete passes from Frazer forced the Huskies to settle for a 38-yard field goal.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Third quarter
Oklahoma’s next drive was short with only 8 yards gained before having to punt. Connecticut also went three and out, but a Ryan Broyles fumble at the Connecticut 18-yard line gave the ball back to the Huskies. Several Todman rushing attempts brought the Huskies to their 35-yard line, but the drive stalled and they were forced to punt. Nearing the end of quarter, Landry Jones was able to complete a 15-yard pass to Kenny Stills to bring them to their 45-yard line.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Third quarter
At the end of the third quarter, Oklahoma led Connecticut 34–20.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
At the start of the fourth quarter Jones was able to complete another first down pass to Ryan Broyles for 12 yards to the Connecticut 43-yard line. A four-yard rush by Murray brought the ball to the Huskies 39-yard line, however several incomplete passes by Jones forced the drive to stall on the Connecticut's 30-yard line. On the fourth down, Bob Stoops called a trick play, a fake field goal pass, which fell incomplete and the possession was turned over on downs.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
With Connecticut in possession they were able to rush for four yards with Todman and Frazer completed 15-yard pass to bring them to their 49-yard line. Another Frazer pass to Anthony Sherman for 4 yards put the Huskies on the Oklahoma 47-yard line, but the drive was stopped there and they were forced to punt once again.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
The next Sooners drive starting on their own 17-yard line, Jones was able to convert on a third and five to Cameron Kenney for 38 yards. On another third and five, Jones was able to convert again to Trey Franks for a 20 yards gain to bring them to the Huskies 20-yard line. Three DeMarco Murray runs brought the ball to the Connecticut five-yard line where Landry Jones threw five-yard passing touchdown to Ryan Broyles.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
Halfway through the quarter, Connecticut received excellent field position with an Anthony Sherman return that brought the ball to their 47-yard line. After a Robbie Frey four-yard rushing loss, Zach Frazer passed to Anthony Sherman for 41 yards to bring the Huskies to the Oklahoma 14-yard line. The next play Frazer was sacked by Frank Alexander for an eight-yard loss. On third down, the Oklahoma defense was able to stop the pass for no gain. On fourth down, Frazer’s pass was incomplete and Connecticut turned the ball over on downs.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
Oklahoma on their 22-yard line, decided to run DeMarco Murray to burn time off the clock. He rushed for 14 yards on first down. A Personal Foul on Connecticut moved the ball 15 yards more to the Connecticut 49-yard line. Two more short Murray runs and an incomplete pass by Jones on third down ended the drive and left 3:01 remaining in the game.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
On their own eight-yard line on first down, Zach Frazer was intercepted by Tony Jefferson for a 22-yard interception touchdown. After the kickoff on their 32-yard line and 2:40 left in the game, Todman rushed for 17 yards to get the Huskies to midfield. Frazier was able to complete an 11-yard pass and an 18-yard pass to reach the Oklahoma 22. Frazier’s next pass was incomplete. On second down, he passed to Ryan Griffin for a 15-yard gain to reach the Oklahoma 7-yard line.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
A two-yard rush by Todman inched the Huskies to the five-yard line and a Defensive Offside penalty helped moved the ball to the Oklahoma two-yard line. On third down Todman rushed for 1 yard to reach the Oklahoma one-yard line. On fourth down, Connecticut rushed again with Todman, but was stopped for a yard loss.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Game summary, Fourth quarter
With Oklahoma in possession of the ball and 14 seconds left in the game at the Oklahoma 2-yard line, Landry Jones knelt down and the game ended with Oklahoma winning by the score of 48–20.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Final statistics
In recognition for his performance during the game, Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones was named the game's offensive most valuable player. Jones passed for a school bowl record of 429 yards which included three touchdown passes. The Sooners had 279 yards of offense in the first half, scoring on four of their five possessions. Connecticut's quarterback Zach Frazer completed 19 out of 39 of his passing attempts for 233 yards. Frazer also had two interceptions in the game; both were off of deflections from his receivers.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Final statistics
Oklahoma's Ryan Broyles lead all receivers with 13 receptions and 170 yards, which also included a touchdown. Oklahoma's Cameron Kenney set career highs with 7 receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Final statistics
On the ground, Connecticut's Jordan Todman led all running backs with 32 carries for 121 yards. Oklahoma's leading rusher DeMarco Murray ran for 93 yards on 25 carries, which included a rushing touchdown.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Final statistics
On defense, Oklahoma's Jamell Fleming was awarded the defensive most valuable player. Fleming had intercepted a pass and returned it for a 55-yard touchdown.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Postgame events
After the bowl game, junior Jordan Todman announced that he would forgo his senior year to enter the 2011 NFL Draft. Twelve hours later, Randy Edsall announced that he was leaving Connecticut in order to take the Maryland head coaching job.


2011 Fiesta Bowl, Postgame events
Despite receiving more than $2.5 million of the $17 million payout given to the Big East for Connecticut's participation, the Connecticut athletic department estimated it lost $1.8 million by playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Connecticut, which was required to purchase 17,500 tickets to the game, resold only 2,771 of those tickets, resulting in a $2.9 million loss. Travel expenses and other costs comprised the remainder of the deficit.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships
The 2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 17th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2011 ATP Challenger Tour and the 12th edition for the 2011 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Lexington, United States between 18 and 24 July 2011.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, ATP singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, ATP singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry as a Lucky Loser into the singles main draw:


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, WTA singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, Champions, Men's doubles
Jordan Kerr /  David Martin def. James Ward /  Michael Yani, 6–3, 6–4


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, Champions, Women's doubles
Tamaryn Hendler /  Chichi Scholl def. Lindsay Lee-Waters /  Megan Moulton-Levy, 7–6(11–9), 3–6, [10–7]


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Men's Doubles
Raven Klaasen and Izak van der Merwe were the defending champions, but they both chose to not participate this year.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Men's Doubles
Jordan Kerr and David Martin won the tournament by defeating James Ward and Michael Yani in the final, 6–3, 6–4.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
Carsten Ball was the defending champion but lost in the second round to Blake Strode.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
2nd seed Wayne Odesnik won the title, defeating 1st seed James Ward in the final, 7–5, 6–4.


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Women's Doubles
Bojana Bobusic and Christina Fusano were the defending champions, but both chose not to participate. Tamaryn Hendler and Chichi Scholl defeated Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy, 7–6(11–9), 3–6, [10–7].


2011 Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships – Women's Singles
Kurumi Nara was the defending champion, but chose not to participate. Chichi Scholl won the final against Amanda Fink 6–1, 6–1.


2011 Fiji National Football League
The 2011 Fiji National Football League was the 35th season of the Fiji National Football League organized by the Fiji Football Association since its establishment in 1977.


2011 Final Four (baseball)
The 2011 European Champion Cup Final Four was an international baseball competition held in Brno, Czech Republic on September 21–22, 2011. It featured the 4 best teams of the 2011 European Cup.


2011 Final Four (baseball), Teams
The following four teams qualified for the 2011 Final Four.


2011 Finlandia Trophy
The 2011 Finlandia Trophy was an international figure skating competition in the 2011–12 season. It was the 16th edition of the annual event and held on October 6–9, 2011 at the Valtti Areena in Vantaa. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing on the senior level.


2011 Finnish Cup
The 2011 Finnish Cup (Finnish: Suomen Cup) is the 57th season of the main annual football (soccer) cup competition in Finland. It is organized as a single-elimination knock–out tournament. Participation in the competition is voluntary.


2011 Finnish Cup
HJK won the cup after beating KuPS 2-1 in the final. As HJK also won the league, they qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League and KuPS will enter the first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League as losing cup finalists.


2011 Finnish Cup
A total of 233 teams registered for the competition. They will enter in different rounds, depending on their position within the league system. Clubs with teams in Kolmonen (level IV) or an inferior league started the competition in Round 1. Teams from Ykkönen (level II) and Kakkonen (level III) will enter in Round 4. The 2011 Veikkausliiga clubs will start from Round 5 onwards, according to their 2011 League Cup finish; teams exiting at the group stage will enter in Round 5, the losing teams of the quarterfinals will begin in Round 6, and all semifinalists will start in Round 7.


2011 Finnish Cup
The tournament started on 6 January 2011 with the first match of Round 1 and concluded with the Final held on 24 September 2011 at Sonera Stadium, Helsinki.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 1
In this round entered 134 clubs from the Finnish fourth level and below, while the other 45 clubs received byes to the next round. These matches took place between 6 and 29 January 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 2
The 67 winners from the previous round and the 45 clubs who got a bye entered this round. These matches took place between 14 January and 13 February 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 3
The 56 winners from the previous round entered this round of the competition. These matches took place between 6 and 28 February 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 4
The 28 winners from the previous round and the 40 clubs from the Ykkönen and Kakkonen entered this round of the competition. These matches took place between 26 February and 21 March 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 5
The 34 winners from the previous round and six clubs eliminated from the group stage of the 2011 Finnish League Cup will enter this round of the competition. The draw was conducted on 3 March 2011 by Finnish FA representative Petri Jakonen. If teams from different levels were drawn together, the lower-league team were assigned as the home team. The matches of this round will take place between 17 March and 2 April 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 6
The 20 winners from the previous round and four clubs eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Finnish League Cup will enter this round of the competition. The draw was conducted on 24 March 2011. If teams from different levels were drawn together, the lower-league team were assigned as the home team. The matches of this round will take place between 1 and 11 April 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Round 7
The 12 winners from the last round joined the four semifinalists of the 2011 Finnish League Cup in this round of the competition. These matches were played between 15 and 23 April 2011.


2011 Finnish Cup, Quarterfinals
The 8 winners from the previous stage of the competition enter this round.


2011 Finnish Cup, Semifinals
The 4 winners from the previous stage compete in this round of the competition.


2011 Finnish Figure Skating Championships
The 2011 Finnish Figure Skating Championships (Finnish: SM2011, yksinluistelu ja jäätanssi) took place between December 17 and 19, 2010 in Kupittaa of Turku. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing on the senior and junior levels. The results were one of the criteria used to choose the Finnish teams to the 2011 World Championships, the 2011 European Championships, and the 2011 World Junior Championships.


2011 Finnish League Cup
The 2011 Finnish League Cup is the 15th season of the Finnish League Cup, Finland's second-most prestigious cup football tournament. FC Honka are the defending champions, having won their first league cup last year.


2011 Finnish League Cup
The cup consists of two stages. First there will be a group stage that involves the 14 Veikkausliiga teams divided into two groups. The top four teams from each group will enter the one-legged elimination rounds – quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.


2011 Finnish League Cup, Group stage
Every team will play every other team of its group once, either home or away. The matches will be played from 18 January to 15 March 2011.


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%.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background, Electoral method
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background, Electoral method
The country is 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background, Electoral method
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Background, Campaign funding
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Retiring incumbents
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Competing parties
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Competing parties, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Competing parties, Party conferences
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Competing parties, Party conferences
The National Coalition Party re-elected incumbent Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen the party leader on 12 June, amidst protests by Greenpeace activists.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Competing parties, Party conferences
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
Helsingin Sanomat read the affair as having added "confusion" and complexity to the electoral race.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
Yet another important issue during the campaign was that of the languages in the country. The status of the Swedish and Russian languages was an 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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%.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, Green League
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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 Organisation.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, National Coalition Party
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, Social Democratic Party
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, Social Democratic Party
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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, Social Democratic Party
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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, True Finns
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, True Finns
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Party-specific issues, True Finns
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Debates
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!"


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Controversies
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Controversies
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Controversies
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Controversies
"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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Campaign, Controversies
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Conduct
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Conduct, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Conduct, Advance voting
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Conduct, Advance voting
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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Political
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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Political
Despite the loss of votes the SPP retained their number of seats in parliament. Party chairman Stefan Wallin described the election result as "interesting."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Economic
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Media
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:


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Media
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Media
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Reactions, Media
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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%.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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%.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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%.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, 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."


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Results, Analysis, True Finns
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).


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Government formation
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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Government formation
On 17 June, the six parties came to an agreement on forming a coalition government. The Katainen government will have 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.


2011 Finnish parliamentary election, Government formation
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.


2011 Finswimming World Championships
The 16th Finswimming World Championships were held at 30 July –6 August 2011 in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary at the Gyarmati Dezső Sportuszoda.


2011 Finswimming World Championships
The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques announced Hódmezővásárhely as the host city on February 2011 following the cancellation of the 2nd CMAS Games proposed for Neiva & San Andreas Island, Colombia.


2011 Finswimming World Championships, Long distance events
The long distance part of the 2011 Finswimming World Championships was held between August 4–06 in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary at the Szeged rowing channel Maty-éri viztározó.


2011 Finswimming World Championships, Long distance events
The following events were contested by both men and women in Hódmezővásárhely:


2011 Finswimming World Championships, Pool events
The pool part of the 2011 Finswimming World Championships was held July 30 – August 6 at the Gyarmati Dezső Sportuszoda. in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary.


2011 Finswimming World Championships, Pool events
The finswimming competition featured races in a long course (50 m) pool in 30 events (15 for males, 15 for females; 13 individual events and 2 relays for each gender).


2011 Finswimming World Championships, Pool events
Note: each distance had preliminary heats and finals, but only 800m immersion is on direct final in morning sessions.