Municipal and County Elections 2025 FAQ
The next elections in Finland will be Municipal and County elections, and they are very important. What are Municipalities and Counties, what do they do, why is it important to vote, who can vote, and who can run for office? Our FAQ will cover all these questions.
What are Municipalities?
Finland is divided into municipalities (around 300). Municipalities are self-governing local administrative units of the country. The most important matters of a municipality are decided by the municipal council. Municipal elections are held to elect the councillors (i.e., the members of the municipal council). The council’s members are elected by municipal residents (you) for four years.
What are Counties?
In 2021 the responsibility for organising healthcare, social welfare and rescue services was transferred from municipalities and joint municipal authorities to wellbeing services. There are 21 wellbeing services counties, and the division into counties is mainly based on the division into regions. The region of Uusimaa is divided into four wellbeing services counties.
The wellbeing services counties are autonomous, and a county council exercises the highest decision-making power in each county. In county elections, a county council is elected for each wellbeing services county. Each wellbeing services county has its own candidates, and you can only vote for the candidates standing for election in your wellbeing services county.
What do Municipalities do?
Municipalities are responsible for providing certain statutory basic services to their residents. These services are mostly funded with municipal taxes (which municipalities can control), central government transfers, and fees charged for certain services. The municipal council decides on the annual municipal budget, which allocates resources to different areas of the municipality’s operations.
Basic services provided by municipalities include:
- education and training
- early childhood education and care
- library services
- youth work
- building supervision
- environmental services
- infrastructure maintenance
- water and waste management
- election organisation.
The municipal council also elects members to municipal committees, which are in charge of providing public services in the municipality.
What do Counties do?
The wellbeing services counties are responsible for organising health, social and rescue services. They do not have the right to levy taxes and their funding is based on central government funding. The central government allocates different amounts of funding to the different wellbeing services counties, depending on their population structure.
The responsibilities of wellbeing services counties include:
- Primary care
- Specialised health care
- Social welfare
- Services for children, young people and families
- Employment services
- Mental health and substance misuse/abuse services
- Disability services
- Emergency services
- Crisis support services
NOTE! Helsinki residents will not vote in the county elections because the City of Helsinki is responsible for social, health, and rescue services in Helsinki. Another exception is Åland, which was not affected by the health and social services reform.
Why is it important to vote in these elections?
Municipal and county councillors will decide on such questions as:
- Shall school class sizes be reduced or are the smallest schools terminated?
- Will there be an effort to shorten the lines for health centres or will entire health centres be outsourced?
- Will we add resources to secure humane quality care to senior citizens, or will these services continue to be underfunded?
These and other equally important decisions concern every Finnish resident personally. And it is important to express your opinion!
When are the elections?
The next municipal and county elections will take place on the 13th of April, 2025.
Who can vote?
In municipal and county elections of Finland, those entitled to vote are
- citizens of Finland or another Member State of the European Union as well as of Iceland and Norway who have reached the age of 18 not later than on the day of the election, and whose municipality of residence is the municipality in question on the 51st day before election day,
- citizens of other states who have reached the age of 18 not later than on the day of the election, if they have resided continuously in Finland for at least two (2) years on the 51st day before election day when the voting register for municipal elections is established.
These two groups do not need to register separately to be included in the municipal election voting register. Instead, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency compiles the register by virtue of office based on the information entered in the Finnish Population Information System for each individual. - those who are employed by the European Union or an international organisation based in Finland and who are habitually resident in the municipality in question on the 51st day before the election day, provided that their personal information has, at their request, been entered into the Population Information System and that they have submitted a written notification to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency on the 52nd day before the election day, stating that they wish to exercise their right to vote in the municipal elections.
Who can run for office?
In municipal elections in Finland, the criteria for becoming a candidate are the same as for voting.
In county elections, a person is eligible to stand as a candidate in county elections if they:
- are domiciled in the wellbeing services county in question,
- have the right to vote in the county elections in some wellbeing services county,
- are not without legal capacity.
However, HELSINKI LEFT also expects candidates to speak and comprehend Finnish or Swedish at level B2 or higher.
If this sparks interest and you want to be nominated as a candidate from HELSINKI LEFT, please act fast and let us know by September 22nd by contacting Ditmar Hasanaj at vice.chair@helsinkileft.fi.
See you at polling stations!
Sources:
https://www.suomi.fi/citizen/rights-and-obligations/digital-support-and-administrative-services/guide/how-finlands-public-administration-works/municipalities-and-local-government
https://vaalit.fi/en/municipal-elections
https://vaalit.fi/en/county-elections