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Elections in Finland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Elections in Finland gives information on election and election results in Finland.
On national level Finland elects a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a six year term by the people. The Parliament (Eduskunta/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, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.
In addition to the presidential and parliamentary elections, there are European Parliament elections every five years, and local municipal elections (held simultaneously in every municipality) every four years.
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Main article: President of Finland
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 also: Finnish presidential election, 2006. The previous presidential election was held February 6, 2000. The official dates for 2012-election have not been set.
| Candidate | Nominating party | Votes 1st round | % | Votes 2nd round | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tarja Halonen | Social Democratic Party | 1,397,030 | 46.3 | 1,630,833 | 51.8 |
| Sauli Niinistö | National Coalition Party | 725,866 | 24.1 | 1,517,947 | 48.2 |
| Matti Vanhanen | Centre Party | 561,990 | 18.6 | ||
| Heidi Hautala | Green League | 105,248 | 3.5 | ||
| Timo Soini | True Finns | 103,492 | 3.4 | ||
| Bjarne Kallis | Christian Democrats | 61,483 | 2.0 | ||
| Henrik Lax | Swedish People's Party | 48,703 | 1.6 | ||
| Arto Lahti | Independent | 12,989 | 0.4 | ||
| Source: First round Ministry of Justice, total [3] | |||||
Main article: Parliament of Finland
Finland's proportional representation system encourages a multitude of political parties and has resulted in many coalition-cabinets. 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.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finnish Centre (Suomen Keskusta, KESK) | 24.7 | 55 | |
| Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue, SDP) | 22.9 | 53 | |
| National Coalition (Kansallinen Kokoomus, KOK) | 18.5 | 40 | |
| Left Alliance (Vasemmistoliitto, VAS) | 9.9 | 19 | |
| Green League (Vihreä Liitto, VIHR) | 8.0 | 14 | |
| Christian Democrats (Kristillisdemokraatit, KD) | 5.3 | 7 | |
| Swedish People's Party (Svenska Folkpartiet, SFP) | 4.6 | 8 | |
| True Finns (Perussuomalaiset, PS) | 1.6 | 3 | |
| For Åland in Parliament (För Åland i riksdagen) | 0.2 | 1 | |
| Total (turnout 66.6 %) | 200 | ||
| Source: Finnish Ministry of Justice | |||
- Government of Finland
- President of Finland
- List of political parties in Finland
- List of political parties in Åland
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
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Finnish parliamentary elections
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