Elections in Finland
There are four types of elections in Finland.[1] Each Finnish citizen at least 18 years of age has the right to vote in each of the elections, which decide the following: the president,[2] the parliament,[3] the MEPs,[4] and the municipal and city councils.
Finland has a presidential election every six years, in which a President of Finland is elected in two rounds on the basis of a direct popular vote.
Parliamentary elections are held every four years with a system of
Municipal elections are held every four years. Municipal elections are held separately in the Municipalities of Åland at the same time as the election of the Parliament of Åland. A new type of election, aluevaalit, was made by the Marin Cabinet in which determines the councils of each of the country's 21 welfare area. The first aluevaalit will be held in 2022.
Presidential elections
The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term. An election was last held January 28, 2018 (there was no second round). See 2018 Finnish presidential election.
2018 Presidential election
The incumbent president Sauli Niinistö won in the first round receiving over 60% of the votes. Green League's candidate Pekka Haavisto came second, followed by Laura Huhtasaari of the Finns Party.
Parliamentary elections
Under Finland's parliamentary system the prime minister can ask the president to dissolve parliament at any time during its 4-year term, which would result in "early" elections. However, this has not occurred in the past two decades and general elections have been held every four years on the third Sunday in March in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. The 2011 parliamentary elections took place on 17 April 2011. The 2015 parliamentary elections took place on 19 April 2015.
The D'Hondt method of proportional representation, used in Finland, encourages a multitude of political parties and has resulted in many coalition-cabinets. The D'Hondt method, while easy to understand and use, tends to favor large, established political parties. For example: in 2007, there were 2,000 candidates representing 18 different parties (plus independents) running for the 200 seats, and those who were elected came from just eight parties. The Prime Minister of Finland is appointed by the president, based on the vote in the parliamentary elections. Usually the chairman of the biggest party becomes the next prime minister.
In the
In the
Åland's parliamentary elections
Åland is a province that accounts for 0.5% of Finland's population, a total population of 27,210. The Åland's autonomous political status under the Act on Åland Autonomy gives the Parliament of Åland legislative powers over a number of areas. Aside from these issues, the state of Finland, represented by the Provincial Governor, is sovereign and residents vote in general parliamentary elections for one representative to the Finnish parliament.
Elections in Åland are held every four years at the same time as municipal elections are held in the Municipalities of Åland. A proportional representation system encourages a multitude of political parties and has resulted in many coalition cabinets. Åland has different political parties than continental Finland.
The Premier of the
Municipal elections
Councils name a civil servant, the city manager or municipal manager, to conduct day-to-day administration of the municipality. In addition, councils name committees (lautakunta) and a municipal executive board (kunnanhallitus). Councils meet periodically and decide on major issues. The executive board prepares the bills and is responsible for the administration, finances and supervision of the interests of the municipality. Unlike in central government, executive boards usually consist of all parties represented in the council; there is no opposition.
2017 municipal elections
Although municipal elections are local only, and local results vary, they do function as a measure of the sentiments and party strengths also nationally. In the 2017 election, National Coalition was the most-voted party, with Social Democrats second and Center the third. Proportionally, the biggest winner was the Green League, whose share of votes rose to 12.5% from 8.5% in 2012 municipal elections. The biggest losers were the Finns Party, whose share of votes dropped to 8.8% from 12.3% in 2012.
2021 municipal elections
EU elections
Finland has participated in
2019 European elections
Results
Blue Reform 6,043 | 0.33 | 0 | New | | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feminist Party | 4,442 | 0.24 | 0 | New | |||||
Communist Party of Finland | 3,532 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Liberal Party – Freedom to Choose | 3,015 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |||||
Animal Justice Party | 2,917 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |||||
Finnish People First | 2,495 | 0.14 | 0 | New | |||||
Citizens' Party | 2,043 | 0.11 | 0 | New | |||||
Independents | 4,077 | 0.22 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Total | 1,830,045 | 100.00 | 14 | 0 | |||||
Valid votes | 1,830,045 | 99.67 | |||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 6,014 | 0.33 | |||||||
Total votes | 1,836,059 | 100.00 | |||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 4,504,480 | 40.76 | |||||||
Source: Ministry of Justice |
County elections
Finland's first county elections were held in 2022.[5]
Referendums
The Constitution of Finland allows only for a non-binding (consultative) referendum called on by the Parliament (Article 53 of the Constitution[6]).
As of 2013 there have been only two referendums in Finland:
In both cases measures passed, and Parliament acted according to the results of the vote (although the referendum in Finland is non-binding).
Municipal law 30-31 § gives right to
There were also around 40 municipal referendums in Finland (as of 2006).[9] Most have been about municipal mergers.
If fifty thousand Finnish citizens sign an initiative (for an
See also
- Government of Finland
- President of Finland
- List of political parties in Finland
- List of political parties in Åland
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
External links
- Finnish Ministry of Justice website about elections in Finland
- Adam Carr's Election Archive
- NSD: European Election Database - Finland publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1991–2007
- Findicator - Voting turnout in the Parliamentary Elections since 1908
References
- ^ Elections and voting in Finland
- ^ Presidential Election, General information
- ^ Parliamentary Elections
- ^ European Elections
- ^ "County Elections - Elections". Vaalit. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
- ^ "Constitution of Finland" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ Kansan valta Suora demokratia politiikan pelastuksena Toim Saara Ilvessalo ja Hensrik Jaakkola Into 2011 Saara Ilvessalo Byrokratiavyyhdistä suoraan demokratiaan pages 36-38
- ^ WHAT EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK FOR A SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT? MAY 2007 [1] Archived 2014-03-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Referendums". kansanvalta.fi. 2006-10-12. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ "Finnish citizens' initiative". Population Register Centre. Archived from the original on 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ "Parliament will not ban fur farming". Yle. 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ "Finland says no to fur-farming ban". Alaska Dispatch. 2013-06-19. Archived from the original on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ "Crowdsourced Finnish Copyright Initiative Meets Signature Requirement". SlashDot. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
- ^ "Gay marriage initiative proceeds to Parliament with 162,000 backers". Yle. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2013-11-02.