In this blog post, I explain the basics of the municipal and county elections happening in Finland this April. I also include some Finnish terms in brackets, which might help you learn basic election vocabulary!
In this Spring’s elections, foreigners are eligible to vote!
I am writing this post in English because I have several friends who don’t speak Finnish, and I want to help them out. Foreigners are eligible to vote in the municipal elections (kuntavaalit) and county elections (aluevaalit) if:
- they are at least 18 years old on the election day, and
- they have had a municipality of residence in Finland for an uninterrupted period of two years.
Basically, if you’ve lived here for over two years, you have the right to vote in these elections, even if you are not a citizen of Finland or another EU country. There are over 260,000 non-citizens who are eligible to vote (YLE), and I definitely think you should use your right.
Why should you care?
Many day-to-day services are run by the municipalities. For example, if you use public transport, running water, public roads, you are utilizing services provided by your municipality. Also, the integration services (kotouttamispalvelut), aimed at integrating foreigners into Finnish society, are provided by the municipalities.
The municipal council holds the highest decision-making power in the municipality. Basically, the municipalities are autonomous in Finland, and they are able to decide on their own taxation. The municipal elections are held every four years. The candidates are running to become representatives (valtuutettu) in local municipal councils (kunnanvaltuusto, or kaupunginvaltuusto). (Kaupunki means city, and kunta means municipality, but legally, they have the same meaning.) These representatives will make decisions on your behalf on topics such as taxation, urban planning, and education.
The other election is the county elections. This is a pretty new thing in Finland, and now this election is held for the second time in Finnish history. The county councils are in charge of organizing the health care and social services of the citizens. However: If you live in Helsinki, you can only vote in the municipal election, as Helsinki is not part of any welfare county.
Who can you vote for?
You can vote for a candidate living in your own municipality. For example, if you live in Espoo, you can vote for candidates in Espoo.
You should vote whoever you think represents the values important to you. Several different media outlets in Finland offer “Election compass” tools (vaalikone) that can help you to choose a suitable candidate. For example, YLE and Helsingin Sanomat (Only in Finnish!) both have an Election compass to help you choose.
In the county elections, you can vote for a candidate running in your welfare service county (hyvinvointialue). If you live in Espoo, for example, your county is Western Uusimaa county (Länsi-Uudenmaan hyvinvointialue). If you live in Järvenpää, your county is Central Uusimaa county (Keski-Uudenmaan hyvinvointialue, or Keusote.)
If you are on social media, e.g. Instagram, you can probably find your candidate there, as well. You can ask them questions, and there is a high chance they’ll answer!
When and where to vote?
You can vote either in advance or on the actual election day.
Advance voting (ennakkoäänestys) is possible from 2 to 8 April. The advance voting is recommended if you know that you are traveling or busy on the election day. You can vote anywhere in Finland (and even abroad!) in the general advance voting stations (ennakkoäänestyspaikka). You can find a list online: https://tulospalvelu.vaalit.fi/AV-2025/en/aanestyspaikat.html
The election day (vaalipäivä) is on 13 April. The polling stations (vaalihuoneisto) are open from 9.00 to 20.00. On the election day, you can only vote in your designated polling station, which is somewhere near your place of residence. If you are eligible to vote, you should have received a letter either via Suomi.fi Messages or in the mail from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, telling you the exact location of your polling station.
The tradition is that the result is already counted on the same evening, starting right on the same minute as the polling stations close at 8 in the evening, so we get a preliminary result already on the evening of 13 April.
How to vote?
You need to bring your ID with you to the polling station. Follow the directions of the personnel and you should be fine! In this article by YLE, you can find a nice summary of how it works:: https://yle.fi/a/74-20151939
More information
You can find more information on the official election website of the Ministry of Justice.
Why do I care?
I’m a candidate for the city council in Järvenpää, running with the Greens. I think the municipal elections are the most important elections we have in Finland, since the decisions made by the municipal councils have the biggest impact on our day-to-day matters, and that’s why I’d like to get everyone motivated to use their right to vote in these elections.