42,198 Finns cast votes abroad in advance in parliamentary polls

A total of 42,198 eligible voters cast their vote in advance at Finland’s missions and offices abroad in this year’s parliamentary elections, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release on Thursday.

The number of advance voters grew by 1,284 (3.1 per cent) this year compared to the 2019 parliamentary elections, when 40,914 advance votes were cast abroad.

This year, advance voting took place at 217 polling stations in 87 countries.

In addition, crew members on Finnish ships had the opportunity to vote in advance on board.

More than 180 crewmembers on 55 ships cast their vote in advance. Advance voting was also arranged at the bases of the Finnish Crisis Management Force in Iraq and Lebanon.

According to the Population Register Centre, about 263,500 persons with a permanent residence abroad were eligible to vote in this year’s elections. In addition, eligible voters staying abroad on a temporary basis had the right to vote at Finland’s missions.

As usual, the voter turnout was the highest in Sweden, where 10,179 votes were cast in advance followed by Spain with 7,839 votes, UK with 2,220 votes, Germany with 1,953 votes and the United States with 2,078 votes.

Eligible voters permanently or temporarily residing abroad or staying abroad may also vote by post. The number of postal votes cast is not yet available. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for organising the postal voting.

The advance voting in the polls started on March 22 and continued till March 25 abroad and in the country on March 28.

A total of 17,28811 voters cast votes in the parliamentary elections during the advance ballot, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Justice.

The number of advance votes is 40.4% of the total voters eligible for the parliamentary elections this year.

Out of the voters, who cast votes in advance, 798860 were men and 929951 were women.

A total 4277487 people including 2082297 men and 2195190 women are eligible to cast votes in the parliamentary elections this year to elect 200 members of the parliament out of 2424 candidates for the next four years.

The parliamentary elections will be held across the country on April 2.