The Centre Party's traditional voter base was among farmers in the countryside. When the importance of the agricultural sector went into decline in the 1970s and the population fell in the countryside, the Centre lost many voters to the more populist Rural Party, a forerunner of today's Finns Party.
"I have the feeling the biggest problem for the Social Democrats right now is how to adjust to the structural change that is this time eating away at the number of industrial jobs and industrial Finland," Aho said on Saturday.
"It's rather interesting that their challenger is the same party, even though with a different name. The Social Democrats are being challenged by the Finns Party in the context of their own structural crisis," he added.
According to Aho, the Finnish political system is in crisis; it is lacking in a force to carry it forward and the capacity to find a direction for the future. As an example, he pointed to the highly contentious and divisive plans to reorganize the nation's healthcare districts.
"I don't really understand how our healthcare system will be improved by drawing maps," the former Prime Minister stated.