HOW TO VOTE in Finland
Next European elections are held in Finland on 26 May 2019. If you are a Finnish citizen aged 18 or over on the day of the election, you are entitled to vote. If you are citizen of another EU Member State living in Finland, aged 18 or over, you may choose to vote in Finland, provided you register in advance. Voting in advance, abroad and by mail from abroad is also possible.
When voting in advance: advance polling stations, where any person entitled to vote may do so. In Finland there are places like municipal offices and post offices which have been designated as polling stations by municipalities, whileabroad Finnish embassies are used. In every municipality there is at least one such polling station. Advance voting in Finland begins on Wednesday 15 May and ends on Tuesday 21 May Advance voting abroad begins on Wednesday 15 May and ends on Saturday 18 May.
When voting on election day: voters may cast their votes at the polling station stated in the voting register and on the card sent to them before the elections. On election day the polling stations are open between 9.00 and 20.00.
In Finland you have to have to be at least 18 on election day.
Entitled to vote in European elections held in Finland are
- every Finnish citizen who is aged 18 or over on election day
- everyone from other EU countries aged 18 or over whose municipality of residence, as defined by law, is in Finland on the 51st day before election day, or who is employed by the European Union or an international organisation in Finland or is a family member of such a person and resides in Finland and has not lost the right to vote in the Member State they are from.
Finnish citizens do not need to register in advance, as this is done automatically by the authorities. The Population Register Centre compiles a computer register of everyone entitled to vote (voting register) 46 days before election day.
Only citizens of other EU Member States who are voting in Finland need to enrol with the Finnish voting register 80 days before election day at the latest.
Yes, voting by mail from abroad will be possible, for the first time in 2019. In order to vote by mail, you have to be a Finnish citizen living outside Finland or residing abroad during the elections. In order to vote by mail, you will have to order the absentee voting material from the Ministry of Justice, which will be sent to your address of choice abroad. You will be able to vote, at the earliest, a month before the election day, and your ballot will have to arrive, at the latest, on the Friday preceding election day (Sunday 26 May).
Remember to mail your absentee ballot in time, as you are personally responsible for it to reach your own central election committee in time. The voter needs two witnesses who are of age (18 or over). The absentee voting material contains more specific instructions. See www.vaalit.fi, further information coming.
Yes, you can vote in advance at Finnish embassies prescribed in decree. Advance voting abroad begins on Wednesday 15 May and ends on Saturday 18 May.
You can also vote from another EU country by mail. You have to ask the Ministry of Justice for a ballot, which you receive by mail, fill in and send to the municipality’s central election committee.
In the European elections the country as a whole is an electoral district/constituency. This means that the candidates enter as candidates in the entire country and the voters may vote for any of the candidates. However, the preliminary count is carried out by the electoral districts and after this the Electoral District Committee of Helsinki confirms the results in the entire country. Voters need to cast their vote in the electoral district stated in the voting register and on the voting card sent to them before the elections.
The so-called d’Hondt method is used to determine the election results. Thus, in the first stage of the calculation the total number of votes of each group, i.e.
- each party which does not belong to an electoral alliance,
- each electoral alliance,
- each joint list, and
- each constituency association which does not belong to a joint list,
is counted. Parties that have formed an electoral alliance are treated as a single group, as are constituency associations on a joint list. In the second stage of the calculation the candidates in each group are ranked in order of their personal number of votes. In the third stage each candidate is accorded a comparative index, i.e. the candidate who has received the most personal votes is accorded an index which equals the total number of votes of the group, the second best candidate half of that, the third best a third, the fourth best a fourth, and so on. In the final stage all candidates within the electoral district are listed in order from best to worst according to their comparative index, and the 14 members are chosen according to the order on this list.
The electoral district committees begin controlling the preliminary count on the Monday that follows the election day at 9.00. The results of the check count have to be ready by Wednesday at 18.00, when the electoral district committees confirm the final results within the electoral districts and notify the results to the Electoral District Committee of Helsinki. The Electoral District Committee of Helsinki confirms the election results in the entire country and issues letters of appointment to the new representatives.
Registered political parties and constituency associations may put candidates forward. A party or constituency association has to submit its list of candidates (candidate application) to the national election authority by Tuesday 16 April who then confirms the nomination of candidates. The list of candidates will be confirmed on Thursday 25 April.
See also Ministry of Justice website on European elections in Finland: https://vaalit.fi/en/european-elections
How can I vote in other countries?
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