33,618 vying in municipal polls

In total 33,618 candidates are vying in the upcoming April 9 elections in 295 municipalities.

The advance voting, however, has begun on March 29 and will continue till April 4.

According to Statistics Finland, 15 political parties and constituency associations nominated the 33,618 candidates. Of them the constituency associations nominated 805.

The number of contestants, however, is 3,506 or 9.4% lower than that in the previous municipal polls.

Of the candidates, 20,207 are men and 13,411 women. Of them 6,669 are current serving on municipal councils, 162 are members of parliament, and four are members of the European Parliament.

The ruling Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party) nominated the highest number of 7461 candidates, followed by the main opposition Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) 6,132, Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) 5,739, Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) 3,831, Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) 3,203, and Vihreä Liitö (Green League) 2600.

The least number of 15 candidates was nominated by the Animal Justice Party of Finland.

Of the contestants 92.2% are Finnish or Sami speakers, 5.6% Swedish speakers, and 2.2% have some other native language.

Among the parliamentary parties, the Green League (4.2%), the Christian Democrats (3.5%) and the Swedish People’s Party (3.3%) have the most foreign-language speaking candidates in relative terms.

Based on the candidates’ occupations, 68.2% are employed, 8.4% unemployed, and 23.4% are in the inactive population.