Elected Members of European Parliament 2004

Fourteen representatives were elected to the European Parliament from Finland, two fewer than in the previous European Parliament elections. All the elected, except for one, are skilled politicians who are experienced with the duties of an MP or MEP.
In the descriptions below, where the success of the elected MEPs is estimated by constituency, the region of Åland is not taken into account as the support for the candidates there differed essentially from the rest of Finland. Those elected to the European Parliament enjoyed only a little support in the region of Åland, where Viveka Eriksson from Åland gathered more than 60 per cent of the votes cast.

Anneli Jäätteenmäki	Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Centre Party) was elected as a new representative to the European Parliament with the highest number of votes cast. She gained 149,646 votes, which is nine per cent of all votes cast. Examined by constituency, Anneli Jäätteenmäki was very successful all around the country. In the constituency of Uusimaa she received 17,792 votes, in Vaasa 17,081 and in Oulu 12,856 votes. Although the number of votes cast for Jäätteenmäki was smaller in the other constituencies, she was the biggest vote puller in four constituencies (Häme, South Savo, Central Finland and Oulu). She gained the lowest number of votes (5,508) in the constituency of Lapland.
Alexander Stubb	Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party) was elected to the European Parliament with the second highest number of votes. The number of votes cast for him was 115,224, i.e. 7.0 per cent of all votes cast. In these elections Stubb was clearly a candidate for the Helsinki region. More than one half of the votes cast for him came from Uusimaa and Helsinki and compared with all the other candidates, his result was without equal in both constituencies. In the constituency of Uusimaa the number of votes cast for Stubb was 34,209 and in Helsinki, 31,169. The lowest number of votes was cast for him in the constituencies of Lapland (1,184) and North Karelia (1,184). Alexander Stubb was elected as a new Member of European Parliament . He has not previously stood for national elections.
Satu Hassi	Satu Hassi (Green League) was elected as a new candidate with the third highest number of votes cast. She received 74,714 votes, which was 4.5 per cent of all votes cast. Satu Hassi gained in Helsinki the second highest number of votes, 17,819. In the constituency of Uusimaa she obtained 15,838 votes and in Pirkanmaa 11,813, while in the other constituencies the number of votes cast for her was clearly lower. The lowest number of votes was cast for her in the constituencies of Lapland (1,121) and North Karelia (1,234). She was elected as the only representative of the Green League.
Esko Seppänen	Esko Seppänen (Left Alliance) was elected for the third time to the European Parliament. The number of votes cast for him was the fourth highest, 72,401, or 4.4 per cent of all votes. Seppänen collected 11,456 votes in the constituency of Uusimaa, 8,344 in the constituency of Helsinki and 8,104 in the constituency of Pirkanmaa. He also did well in the constituencies of Varsinais-Suomi and Oulu, gaining 7,077 and 6,723 votes, respectively. His support was lowest in the constituency of North Karelia (1,205 votes). He was elected to the European Parliament as the only representative of the Left Alliance.
Ville Itälä	Ville Itälä (National Coalition Party) was elected as a new candidate with the fifth highest number of votes cast. He received 65,439 votes, i.e. 4.0 per cent of all votes cast and among all Coalition Party candidates, he gained the second highest number of votes. Itälä's support centred on the constituency of Varsinais-Suomi, from where he obtained one third of the votes cast for him (22,348) and where he was also the absolute election winner. In addition to Varsinais-Suomi, the second largest number of votes was cast for him in the constituencies of Uusimaa (8,985), Helsinki (5,726) and Pirkanmaa, 5,659. He received the least support from the constituency of Lapland (733).
Reino Paasilinna	Reino Paasilinna (Social Democratic Party) was elected for the third time to the European Parliament with the sixth highest number of votes cast. He received 64,305 votes, which is 3.9 per cent of all votes cast and of all SDP candidates he gained the highest number of votes. He was particularly supported in Southern Finland. In the constituency of Uusimaa he gained 12,603 votes, in Helsinki 10,657 and in Varsinais-Suomi 7,245 votes. The second highest number of votes for Paasilinna came from the constituencies of Pirkanmaa (7,797) and Häme (6,885). His support was lowest in North Karelia (429).
Piia-Noora Kauppi	Piia-Noora Kauppi (National Coalition Party) was re-elected to the European Parliament with the seventh highest number of votes cast. She received 62,995 votes, or 3.8 per cent of all votes cast. Kauppi got votes from the constituency of Oulu, on the one hand, and from the Helsinki region, on the other hand. In the constituency of Oulu only two candidates attained over 10,000 votes. One of them was Piia-Noora Kauppi, who gained there 12,133 votes (A. Jäätteenmäki, 12,856). Kauppi received 10,940 votes in Uusimaa and 8,446 in Helsinki.
Riitta Myller	Riitta Myller (Social Democratic Party) was elected for the third time to the European Parliament with the eighth highest number of votes cast. She received 55,133 votes, which is 3.3 per cent of all votes cast. As in the previous European Parliament elections, she was elected primarily by the votes from the constituency of North Karelia. Myller was absolutely the biggest vote puller in this constituency. She gained there 13,413 votes, which was 31 per cent of all votes cast in the constituency. The next highest number of votes was cast for Myller in the constituency of South Savo, 6,324, which was the second best result in that constituency.
Kyösti Virrankoski	Kyösti Virrankoski (Centre Party) was elected for the third time to the European Parliament with the ninth highest number of votes. He received 51,415 votes, that is, 3.1 per cent of the votes cast. Of the Centre Party candidates, he gained the second highest number of votes. As in the previous elections, Kyösti Virrankoski was of all the elected MEPs most clearly a one-constituency candidate. He was the election winner in the constituency of Vaasa, gaining there 30,533 votes, which is nearly 60 per cent of the total votes cast for him. The second highest number of votes was cast for Virrankoski in Central Finland, where he received 4,967 votes, while in the other constituencies his support was clearly lower.
Lasse Lehtinen	Lasse Lehtinen (Social Democratic Party) was elected as a new candidate to the European Parliament with the tenth highest number of votes. He received 47,186 votes, or 2.8 per cent of all votes cast. Lasse Lehtinen was widely supported throughout Finland. The highest number of votes were cast for him in the constituency of Uusimaa, 9,183 votes, the second highest in North Savo, 6,864 and the third highest in Helsinki, 5,603. Lehtinen did relatively well in the other constituencies as well, only in Lapland and North Karelia did the votes cast for him remain below 500.
Paavo Väyrynen	Paavo Väyrynen (Centre Party) was elected to the European Parliament for the third time with the eleventh highest number of votes cast. He received 44,123 votes, which was 2.7 per cent of all votes cast. Väyrynen was clearly a candidate for northern Finland. He gained by far the highest number of votes in Lapland, 12,174, which was 22 per cent of total votes cast in the constituency. Väyrynen ranked fourth in the constituency of Oulu with 7,192 votes, while in the other constituencies his support varied steadily between 1,413 and 3,819 votes.
Eija-Riitta Korhola	Eija-Riitta Korhola (National Coalition Party) was re-elected with the fourteenth highest number of votes. She gained 35,285 votes, or 2.1 per cent of the votes cast. Korhola collected the majority of her votes from the Helsinki region and Häme. She had her best result in the constituency of Uusimaa with 9,727 votes and the second best in Helsinki with 7,676 votes. The number of votes cast for her was 4,045 in Häme and 3,822 in Pirkanmaa. Lapland was Korhola's weakest area (259).
Hannu Takkula	Hannu Takkula (Centre Party) was elected as a new candidate with the fifteenth highest number of votes cast. He received 32,739 votes, or 2.0 per cent of all votes cast. Takkula, like Väyrynen, was a candidate for northern Finland. His result was best in the constituency of Lapland, 8,540 votes and in Oulu 7,558 votes. In the other constituencies the number of votes cast for him varied between 681 and 2,172.
Henrik Lax	Henrik Lax (Swedish People's Party in Finland) was elected as a new candidate with the sixteenth highest number of votes. He received 32,707 votes, that is, 2.0 per cent of the votes cast. He was elected as the only representative of the Swedish People's Party. Representing his party, he gained most support from the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland. In the constituency of Uusimaa Lax collected 17,860 votes, which was the second best result there. The second highest number of votes was cast for him in Helsinki, 7,418. In the constituency of Varsinais-Suomi Lax gained 3,157 and in Vaasa 2,777 votes. In the other constituencies the number of votes cast for him remained modest.

Last updated 18.6.2004