Elections in Finland
Encyclopedia
Elections in Finland gives information on election
and election results in Finland
.
On national level Finland elects a head of state
— the President of the Republic
— and a legislature
. The president is elected for a six-year term by direct popular vote. The Parliament
(in Finnish
eduskunta, in Swedish
riksdagen) has 200 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation
in multi-seat constituencies. Finland has a multi-party system, with three strong parties (Social Democrats
, Center
, National Coalition), in which one party does not often have a chance of gaining power alone, and parties
must work with each other to form coalition government
s.
In addition to the presidential and parliamentary elections, there are European Parliament elections
every five years, and local municipal elections 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
.
.
. National Coalition's candidate Riitta Uosukainen
was clearly left out of the second round, after Sauli Niinistö
declined candidacy. Center Party's candidate Esko Aho
qualified for the runoff, and was defeated by a one-percent margin in the runoff by Tarja Halonen.
took place on 17 April 2011.
Finland's use of the D'Hondt method
of proportional representation 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 parliamentary elections of 16 March 2003
, there were two dominating parties: the Center Party (KESK) got 55 seats, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
got 53 seats, in the 200-seat Eduskunta. A new cabinet was formed by Center and Social Democrats together with the Swedish People's Party.
In the parliamentary elections of 2007
, the Center Party retained its lead at 51 seats, but the election was a major victory for the National Coalition, which got 50 seats, and a major loss to SDP, which got 45 seats, losing 8 seats. A new coalition cabinet, Vanhanen II, between Center, Coalition, Greens, and the Swedish People's Party was formed.
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 Government of Åland
, Lantråd, is appointed by the speaker of the Parliament, based on the vote in the parliamentary elections. Usually the chairman of the biggest party becomes the next prime minister. In the parliamentary elections on 21 October 2007
there were two dominating parties: the Liberals for Åland
got 10 seats, and the Åland Centre
got 8 seats, in the 30-seat Lagting. These parties then formed a new cabinet led by Viveka Eriksson
.
, where the council (valtuusto) is the highest authority. Every four years, a council is elected.
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.
since joining the European Union in 1995. The first Finnish election
was held in 1996.
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
and election results in Finland
Politics of Finland
Politics of Finland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. The President of Finland is the head of state, leads the foreign policy, and is the Commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces. The Prime Minister of Finland is the head...
.
On national level Finland elects a head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
— the President of the Republic
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
— and a legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
. The president is elected for a six-year term by direct popular vote. The Parliament
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...
(in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
eduskunta, in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
riksdagen) has 200 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
in multi-seat constituencies. Finland has a multi-party system, with three strong parties (Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
, Center
Centre Party (Finland)
The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...
, National Coalition), in which one party does not often have a chance of gaining power alone, and parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
must work with each other to form coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
s.
In addition to the presidential and parliamentary elections, there are European Parliament elections
Elections in the European Union
Elections to the Parliament of the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. 736 MEPs are elected to the European Parliament which has been directly elected since 1979. No other body is directly elected although the Council of the European Union and European Council is...
every five years, and local municipal elections 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
Parliament of Åland
The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats.- Elections :- See also :*Government of Åland, or Ålands landskapsregering...
.
Presidential Elections
The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term. An election was last held January 15, 2006 (second round on January 29, 2006). See Finnish presidential election, 2006Finnish presidential election, 2006
The Finnish Presidential election of 2006 saw the re-election of Tarja Halonen as President of Finland for a second six-year term.The first round of voting in Finnish presidential elections always takes place on the third Sunday of January, in this case 15 January 2006...
.
2000 Presidential election
SDP's winning candidate was Tarja HalonenTarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen is the incumbent President of Finland. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency...
. National Coalition's candidate Riitta Uosukainen
Riitta Uosukainen
Riitta Maria Uosukainen is a Finnish politician and former Member of Parliament. She is one of the eight people to gain the highest honorary title, valtioneuvos, given by the President....
was clearly left out of the second round, after Sauli Niinistö
Sauli Niinistö
Sauli Väinämö Niinistö is a Finnish politician from National Coalition Party. He is also President of the Football Association of Finland. A lawyer by training, he was Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003 and the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2006 presidential election...
declined candidacy. Center Party's candidate Esko Aho
Esko Aho
Esko Tapani Aho is a statesman and former Prime Minister of Finland.-Early life and career:Aho was born in Veteli, Finland. Prior to attending university, he began a career in politics. From 1974 to 1979, he was Chairman of the Finnish Centre Youth, which had before him grown many of his...
qualified for the runoff, and was defeated by a one-percent margin in the runoff by Tarja Halonen.
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 electionsFinnish parliamentary election, 2011
An election to the Eduskunta was held 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%....
took place on 17 April 2011.
Finland's use of the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
of proportional representation encourages a multitude of political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
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
Prime Minister of Finland
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government of Finland. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, who is the Head of State. The current Prime Minister is Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party.-Overview:...
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 parliamentary elections of 16 March 2003
Finnish parliamentary election, 2003
The Finnish parliamentary election of 2003 was the 34th election to the Eduskunta , held on 16 March 2003 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term...
, there were two dominating parties: the Center Party (KESK) got 55 seats, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
got 53 seats, in the 200-seat Eduskunta. A new cabinet was formed by Center and Social Democrats together with the Swedish People's Party.
In the parliamentary elections of 2007
Finnish parliamentary election, 2007
The Finnish parliamentary election of 2007 was the 35th election to the Eduskunta , held on 18 March 2007 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Early voting was possible from the 7–13 March. Two hundred MPs were elected from 15 constituencies.Election themes included a reduction...
, the Center Party retained its lead at 51 seats, but the election was a major victory for the National Coalition, which got 50 seats, and a major loss to SDP, which got 45 seats, losing 8 seats. A new coalition cabinet, Vanhanen II, between Center, Coalition, Greens, and the Swedish People's Party was formed.
Åland legislative election
Åland is a province that accounts for 0.5% of Finland's population, a total population of 27,210. The Åland IslandsÅland Islands
The Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland...
autonomous political status
Politics of Åland
Politics of the Åland Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish territory of Finland, whereby the Lantråd is the head of government, and of a multi-party system....
under the Act on Åland Autonomy gives the Parliament of Åland
Parliament of Åland
The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats.- Elections :- See also :*Government of Åland, or Ålands landskapsregering...
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
Elections in Åland
Elections in Åland gives information on election and election results in Åland.Åland elects on a regional level a legislature. The diet has 30 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation....
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
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
and has resulted in many coalition cabinets. Åland has different political parties than continental Finland.
The Premier of the Government of Åland
Government of Åland
The Landskapsregering is the government of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. The government is led by a Lantråd, the premier of Åland, who is elected by the Lagting, the parliament of Åland.-List of Premiers of Åland :...
, Lantråd, is appointed by the speaker of the Parliament, based on the vote in the parliamentary elections. Usually the chairman of the biggest party becomes the next prime minister. In the parliamentary elections on 21 October 2007
Åland legislative election, 2007
The 2007 Åland legislative election was held on 21 October 2007 in the Åland Islands for the Lagting, the regional parliament of Åland. All 30 seats were up for election to four-year terms using proportional representation...
there were two dominating parties: the Liberals for Åland
Liberals for Åland
The Liberals for Åland is a liberal political party of the Åland Islands. The party is an observer at Liberal International. At the 2007 legislative elections, the party won 10 out of 30 seats. The current party leader is Viveka Eriksson.-Elections:...
got 10 seats, and the Åland Centre
Åland Centre
The Åland Centre is a centrist, agrarian political party in the Åland Islands.At the 2003 elections, the party won 24.1 % of popular votes and 7 out of 30 seats. On the October 21st, 2007, parliamentary elections, the party won 23.5 % of the popular vote and 8 out of 30 seats.- External links :*...
got 8 seats, in the 30-seat Lagting. These parties then formed a new cabinet led by Viveka Eriksson
Viveka Eriksson
Viveka Eriksson or Viveca Eriksson is a politician on the autonomous Åland Islands and the current Premier of the Government of Åland...
.
Municipal elections
Municipalities of Finland, that include cities and other (rural) municipalities, are the basic local administrative units of the country. Most of basic services are provided by the municipality, and are bound to do so by law. Municipalities have council-manager governmentCouncil-manager government
The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...
, where the council (valtuusto) is the highest authority. Every four years, a council is elected.
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.
2008 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 2008 election, National Coalition was the most-voted party, with Social Democrats second and Center the third. Proportionally, the biggest winner were the True Finns, whose share of votes rose to 5.4% from 0.9% in 2004 municipal elections. The losers were the Social Democrats and the Center. Center's loss was especially significant because in Lapland, where it usually was the most powerful, its loss was the largest.Elections in the European Union
Finland has participated in European parliament electionsElections in the European Union
Elections to the Parliament of the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. 736 MEPs are elected to the European Parliament which has been directly elected since 1979. No other body is directly elected although the Council of the European Union and European Council is...
since joining the European Union in 1995. The first Finnish election
European Parliament election, 1996 (Finland)
The European Parliament election of 1996 in Finland was the first election of the Finnish delegation to the European Parliament.-Background:In 1996, Finland had a population of 5.1 million . The government was a broad coalition led by the social democrat Paavo Lipponen...
was held in 1996.
See also
- Government of FinlandGovernment of FinlandFinland is a republic with a representative democracy governed accordingly to the principles of parliamentarism. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Finland . Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, officially termed Council of State , which is led by the Prime Minister, the Head...
- President of FinlandPresident of FinlandThe President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....
- 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