Municipal elections 2021 text on a blue background

11.05.2021

Municipal elections are approaching!

The local municipal elections are held in June! The municipal elections elect the municipal council members for the next four years. The city council makes rather big and important decisions that affect the everyday life of people living in Vaasa. What should you know about the elections? How do I vote and affect the future of my city? Not to worry, we have collected all the important information about the elections below.

What?

The municipal elections elect council members for municipal councils. To the city council of Vaasa, there are 55 members elected. The term of the new council starts on the 1st of August 2021 and ends on the 31st of May in 2025. The city council is the highest decision-making body and decides the common issues of city residents. The council is responsible for governing the city and pushes forward direct participation of city residents in decision making.

The municipal council decided on many everyday issues such as.

City finances, where the taxpayer money is used
What kind of services the city provides and where these services are
The cleanliness and condition of city environment such as streets and parks.
The climate actions of the city
Services that support the well-being of municipal residents
Members to the city board and committees.

It depends on the city council, what are the areas where the city makes effort.

Usually, the municipal elections are held every four years in April, but because of the Covid-19, the elections were postponed to June.

Recordings of the city council meetings can be found from the web page of the city of Vaasa

The minutes of the city council meetings can be found from the web page of the city of Vaasa

More general information about the municipal elections can be found from the Ministry of Justice web page

Vaasa city council 2017-2021

The previous city council was elected in 2017. The voting percentage at that time in Vaasa was 60,6% and the total percentage in Finland was 58,9%. (YLE, 2017)

The average age of Vaasa city council after elections was 50 and 47% of the elected council members were men and 53% were women (YLE, 2017)

The Council factions of the city council of Vaasa during the last council term (1.6.2017-31.5.2021) (The city of Vaasa, 2021)

Council faction of The Swedish People’s party of Finland: 18 councillors
Council faction of The Social Democratic Party of Finland: 13 councillors
Council faction The National Coalition Party of Finland: 10 councillors
Council faction of The Finns party: 6 councillors
Council faction of the Greens party: 4 councillors
Council faction of The Left Alliance: 4 councillors
Council faction of the Centre Party: 2 councillors
Council faction of the Christian Democrats: 2 councillors

Voting

Advance poll voting in Finland: 26.5-8.6

Official voting day: 13.6

During the advance voting, you are allowed to vote in any polling station in Finland or abroad. This means that if you are registered to live in Vaasa, but are not in the city, for the time being, you can still vote somewhere else than in Vaasa during the pre-poll voting period.

During the official voting day (13.6) voting takes place in the specific polling station that is labeled to you in the voting registered and marked in the notification card about your eligibility to vote that will be sent to you by mail or e-mail by the 20th of May the latest.

The covid-19 situation has been noted on polling stations and the election officials make sure the polling stations are secure during voting.

Check your closest polling station from the Ministry of Jusitce web page

Who is eligible to vote?

Selecting a candidate

Who do you want to be the person using the power in the city council during the coming years? Finding a suitable candidate might take a while but here are a few tips to help you:

Fill an election compass! Both candidates and voters can fill in answers to the questions a compass machine asks and the compass finds candidates that are most suitable for you.
Check the principals and programmes of different parties and what they are standing for. It is good to make sure that the official principles of the party match your own values. Party principals and programmes can be found on the party web pages.
You do not have to agree on every single issue with your candidate. It is usually impossible to find someone who shares absolutely the same views as you do. Selecting a candidate who agrees with you the most is enough.

Election compasses

Elections candidates are confirmed on the 14th of May, and all the candidates can then be found on the Ministry of Justice web page.

The student union during the elections

The student union is an active organization that affects the municipality during elections and after them.

VYY is committed to the Opiskelijan Vaasa ry: (OVVS) municipality election goals. To see what the goals are, you can check the OVVS on Instagram and Facebook @opiskelijanvaasa.
VYY provides a series of columns to the local media, which brings up several issues that are important to students such as transportation and employment options.
The student union encourages its members to vote and to share information about the municipal elections in their channels.
VYY targets to meet all the new council factions after the elections and make our goals known to the new council members

One of the goals of the student union in 2021 is to be both visible and active partaker in municipal election discussions on a local and national levels.