26.1 % cast votes in advance in Presidential poll in 5 days

A total of 1182093 people cast votes in advance in Finland in the presidential election until Sunday, which is 27.6 percent of the total voters living in the country, according to the Statistics of the Ministry of Justice.

Meanwhile, the number of votes cast by Finns living abroad is significantly low and only 3700 voters out of total 264330 cast votes during the advance ballot and the turnout was 1.4 percent.

The advance voting in the election started on January 17 in home and abroad and in Finland it will continue until January 23 while the voting was ended abroad on Saturday.

Total turnout in home and abroad until Sunday was 26.1 percent.

A total of 955 general advance polling stations were set up across the country while a total of 220 advance polling stations were setup in 89 different countries, located at Finland's diplomatic and consular missions or their offices.

In Finland, the highest turnout on the last five days was reported 32 percent in Pirkanmaa followed by 30.7 percent in Satakunta and 30.4% in Lapland.

The lowest turnout was 11.1 percent in Åland followed by 25,3 percent in Vaasa and 25.9% in Oulu.

The ration of votes casted in advance by women was 29,5 percent and men was 25.6 percent in Finland until Sunday.

A total of 4546041 voters- 4281711 in Finland and 264330 abroad- are entitled to vote this year´s presidential election.

The election will be held on January 28 and the election day for the second round, if one needs to be conducted, is February 11.

The advance voting period for the possible second round is from January 31 to February 6 in Finland and from January 31 to February 3 abroad.

The candidates who are contesting the presidential poll are: Veteran politician of Vihreä Liitto (Green Party) Pekka Haavisto, former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb (Kansallinen Kokoomus-National Coalition Party), former lawmaker and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn of Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland), former Chairperson of Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland -SDP) Jutta Urpilainen, Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) Chairperson Li Andersson, Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) leader and Speaker of the Parliament Jussi Halla-aho, SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland-CD) Chairperson Sari Essayah, Liike Nyt (Movement Now) lawmaker Harry Harkimo and Independent candidate Mika Aaltola.