A total of 33,618 candidates in Municipal elections 2017

Of the registered parties, 15 nominated candidates in the Municipal elections 2017. The total number of candidates in the 295 municipalities in Mainland Finland is 33,618, of whom 805 were nominated by constituency associations. The number of candidates in the Municipal elections declined by 3,506 from the previous Municipal elections (9.4 per cent). Of the candidates, 20,207 are men and 13,411 are women. Of the candidates, 6,669 are current councillors in municipal councils, 162 are Members of Parliament and four are members of the European Parliament. Of the parties, the most candidates were nominated by the Centre Party of Finland, 7,461 candidates and the least candidates were nominated by the Animal Justice Party of Finland, 15 candidates. The data are based on Statistics Finland's statistics on the nomination of candidates for the Municipal elections 2017.

Women's and men’s proportions of candidates in Municipal elections 1953–2017

In Municipal elections, candidates can be nominated by registered political parties and constituency associations established by persons entitled to vote. Parties can form electoral alliances and constituency associations can form joint lists. Each party or electoral alliance may nominate at most one and a half times the number of candidates as the number of elected councillors in the municipality. Ninety-six per cent of the candidates were nominated by current parliamentary parties – the Centre Party of Finland, National Coalition Party, Finns Party, Finnish Social Democratic Party, Green League, Left Alliance, Swedish People’s Party in Finland, and Christian Democrats in Finland. Of the candidates, 1.6 per cent were nominated by parties that do not have MPs in the present Parliament. Of such parties, the most candidates were nominated by the Communist Party of Finland, 221 candidates and the least by the Animal Justice Party of Finland, 15 candidates. Of the candidates, 2.4 per cent are nominated by constituency associations.

A majority of the candidates in the Municipal elections have always been men. Of the candidates in the Municipal elections 2017, altogether 39.9 per cent were women, which is 1.1 percentage points more than in the previous Municipal elections. Among the parliamentary parties, the Green League nominated most female candidates in relative terms, 57.9 per cent of the candidates nominated by the party. Among the parliamentary parties, the Finns Party nominated the least female candidates, 25.2 per cent. Among all parties, the proportion of female candidates was highest in the Feminist Party (90.0 per cent) and lowest in the Independence Party (11.4 per cent).

Table 1. Number of candidates by age group and party in Municipal elections 2017

Party	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
KESK	353	902	1,442	1,761	1,792	1,211	7,461
KOK	300	603	1,233	1,531	1,239	833	5,739
PS	118	469	791	974	867	612	3,831
SDP	171	599	1,180	1,388	1,609	1,185	6,132
VIHR	156	476	795	631	377	165	2,600
VAS	122	426	606	608	818	623	3,203
RKP	103	185	262	295	255	224	1,324
KD	50	210	336	439	490	446	1,971
SKP	4	35	32	22	53	75	221
KTP	1	3	3	3	6	23	39
LIBE	7	21	14	9	3	2	56
Piraattip.	12	71	38	14	2	-	137
EOP	1	9	2	3	-	-	15
Femin.p.	3	15	13	6	2	1	40
IP	-	4	14	9	10	7	44
Others	27	65	162	223	195	133	805
Total	1,428	4,093	6,923	7,916	7,718	5,540	33,618

The average age of all candidates in the Municipal elections is 49.5 years, that of male candidates is 50.7 and that of female ones 47.8. Of the candidates, 21,174 (63.0 per cent) are aged 45 or over, 5,540 (16.5 per cent) are aged 65 or over. Altogether, 1,428 candidates (4.2 per cent) are aged under 25. Among the parliamentary parties, the Swedish People's Party has the most candidates aged under 25 (7.8 per cent) and the Christian Democrats have the least (2.5 per cent). In relative terms, the Christian Democrats have the most candidates aged 65 or over (22.6 per cent) and the Green League has the least (6.3 per cent). Of all the parties that nominated candidates in the Municipal elections 2017, the Liberal Party has the most candidates aged under 25 in relative terms (12.5 per cent) and the Independence Party has the least (0.0 per cent). In relative terms, the Communist Worker's Party has the most candidates aged 65 or over (59.0 per cent) and the Pirate Party and the Animal Justice Party have the least (0.0 per cent). The age of the candidate is the age on the election day.

Table 2. Background analysis of candidates by party in the Municipal elections 2017

Party	Councillors in municipal councils (%)	Average age of candidates	Finnish or Sami speakers (%)	Swedish speakers (%)	Other language speakers (%)	Employed (%)	Unemployed (%)	In the inactive population (%) ¹⁾	Average income ²⁾
KESK	28.1	49.5	98.3	0.4	1.3	74.5	5.4	20.1	39,131
KOK	20.3	49.0	96.6	1.5	1.9	75.7	4.8	19.4	50,162
PS	20.8	49.8	97.5	0.7	1.8	56.9	15.0	28.1	30,420
SDP	20.0	51.4	94.4	3.6	2.0	68.9	8.0	23.2	37,866
VIHR	8.8	43.8	93.2	2.6	4.2	69.7	11.0	19.3	33,494
VAS	14.5	50.4	95.8	1.3	2.8	58.4	11.9	29.8	30,508
RKP	22.8	47.9	7.9	88.8	3.3	75.2	4.2	20.6	45,980
KD	10.2	52.2	88.6	8.0	3.5	60.2	9.3	30.5	32,929
SKP	4.1	54.1	95.5	1.8	2.7	39.8	14.9	45.2	23,587
KTP	-	61.1	100.0	-	-	12.8	7.7	79.5	19,935
LIBE	3.6	37.2	92.9	5.4	1.8	67.9	8.9	23.2	29,654
Piraattip.	-	33.8	93.4	3.6	2.9	46.7	21.2	32.1	19,432
EOP	-	34.3	100.0	-	-	60.0	20.0	20.0	19,917
Femin.p.	-	37.2	82.5	12.5	5.0	77.5	5.0	17.5	27,149
IP	2.3	50.8	100.0	-	-	45.5	25.0	29.5	24,252
Others	21.7	51.0	91.7	6.2	2.1	62.8	11.2	26.0	35,014
All candidates	19.8	49.5	92.2	5.6	2.2	68.2	8.4	23.4	38,080

1) Candidates in the inactive population are divided into students (20.1%), pensioners (71.4%), conscripts or performing community service (0.4%), and other persons in the inactive population (8.1%).
2) Income subject to state taxation

Of the candidates, 19.8 per cent are current councillors in municipal councils. Among the parliamentary parties, the Centre Party has in relative terms the most candidates that are current councillors, 28.1 per cent. Among the parliamentary parties, the Green League has in relative terms the fewest candidates that are current councillors, 8.8 per cent.

Of the candidates, 92.2 per cent are Finnish or Sami speakers, 5.6 per cent are Swedish speakers and 2.2 per cent of the candidates 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’ main type of activity, 68.2 per cent of all candidates in the Municipal elections are employed, 8.4 per cent are unemployed and 23.4 per cent are in the inactive population. Among the parliamentary parties, the Coalition Party (75.7%) has the most employed candidates in relative terms and the Finns Party has the least (56.9%). In relative terms, the Christian Democrats have the most candidates in the inactive population (19.3%) and the Green League has the least (19.3%).

The average income subject to state taxation of all the candidates was EUR 38,080 per year. Among the parliamentary parties, the candidates of the Coalition Party have the highest average income, EUR 50,162, and the candidates of the Finns Party have the lowest, EUR 30,420.

The national register of candidates is published on the Internet pages of the Ministry of Justice (www.vaalit.fi/en/). More detailed data on the candidates of the Municipal elections can be found in the review: Background analysis of candidates in the Municipal elections 2017.

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Source: Municipal Elections 2017, nomination of candidates and background analysis of candidates, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Sami Fredriksson 029 551 2696, Kaija Ruotsalainen 029 551 3599, Jaana Asikainen 029 551 3506, vaalit@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Municipal elections, quality description (31.3.2017)

Updated 31.03.2017

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Municipal elections [e-publication].
ISSN=2323-1114. Nomination of candidates and background analysis of candidates 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 27.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kvaa/2017/01/kvaa_2017_01_2017-03-31_tie_001_en.html