[ENGLANTI]
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INFORMATION ON THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS OF 2012
Under the Constitution, Finland is divided into municipalities whose
administration is based on self-government. Municipalities make decisions on
many issues that concern their residents.
The highest decision-making body in a municipality is a council elected by the
residents. The council members, or councillors, are elected for four years at a
time in municipal elections. The following municipal elections will take place
on Sunday 28 October 2012.
In municipal elections, Finnish citizens and, under certain conditions, citizens
of other countries living in the municipality may vote and stand for election.
Voting in Finland is voluntary.
In the Region of Åland, no municipal elections will take place in 2012.
Right to vote – who is entitled to vote
You have the right to vote in municipal elections if you are a citizen of Finland, another
European Union Member State, Iceland or Norway, and you meet the following conditions:
- you are 18 years of age at the latest on the election day (28 October 2012)
- you are assigned a municipality of residence in Finland no later than on 7 September
2012.
If you are a citizen of some other country, you may vote in the municipal elections if
- you are 18 years of age at the latest on the election day (28 October 2012)
- you have had a municipality of residence in Finland for a continuous period of at least
two years before 7 September 2012.
Your municipality of residence is determined under the provisions of the Municipality of
Residence Act. Usually, your municipality of residence is the municipality in which you live.
In the municipal elections of 2012, your municipality of residence will be the one recorded as
your municipality in the Population Information System on 7 September at 12 midnight.
If necessary, you can contact the Local Register Office to check your municipality of
residence.
You may only vote for a candidate standing for election in your own municipality of residence
in a municipal election.
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A notice of your right to vote will be posted to you
The Population Register Centre and the Local Register Offices maintain a voting register that
contains the information on all those who are entitled to vote. You are not required to do
anything to become entered in the voting register.
By 4 October 2012, the Local Register Office will send a notice of your right to vote (an
information card) to all those who are entitled to vote and whose addresses are found in the
register. The information card will contain instructions for voting.
Eligibility – who can be a candidate
You are eligible - in other words, you can stand for election - in the municipal elections of
your municipality of residence if you meet the following criteria:
- The municipality in which you intend to stand for election is your municipality of
residence
- You are entitled to vote in some municipality
- You are not legally incompetent, or under guardianship.
Certain state officials and leading public servants and employees of the municipality are not
eligible, however.
Nomination of candidates in municipal elections
In municipal elections, candidates may be nominated by
- registered parties
- constituency associations established by voters.
In order to establish a constituency association, a minimum of ten voters resident in the
municipality are needed, while in certain small municipalities, three or five is enough.
Two or more parties have a right to establish an electoral alliance. Two or more constituency
associations have a right to set up a joint list.
The maximum number of candidates nominated by a party, an electoral alliance or a joint
list in a municipality equals the number of councillors to be elected multiplied by one and a
half. Depending on the population of the municipality, 17–85 councillors will be elected.
Each candidate will be assigned a number. A combined list of the candidates will be
produced, on which all the candidates will be shown in the order of their numbers, starting
with the number 2. On this combined list, the candidates will be grouped by their parties and
joint lists. The combined list will show the name, candidate number and occupation of each
candidate. In addition, the combined list will show
- which parties have set up an electoral alliance
- which constituency associations have formed a joint list
- which parties do not belong to an electoral alliance
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- which candidates are running from outside of a joint list.
The combined list of candidates will be drawn up on 27 September 2012.
Voting dates
You can either vote on the election day, which is Sunday 28 October 2012, or before this
date in advance voting. You may only cast your vote once. Voting twice is a punishable
offence under the Criminal Code.
Advance voting:
Advance voting will start on Wednesday 17 October 2012.
Advance voting will end abroad on Saturday 20 October 2012 and in Finland on Tuesday 23
October 2012. At certain polling stations for advance voting, the voting time is shorter than
this.
You may vote in advance at any polling station in Finland or abroad. Polling stations for
advance voting include
- in Finland, advance polling stations selected by each municipality, for example
municipal offices or post offices
- a number of Finnish missions abroad
- institutions including hospitals, operating units of social care services and prisons.
Only persons who are patients or inmates of the institutions may vote at these polling
stations.
- Finnish ships that are abroad during the advance voting period. Only the crews may
cast their votes onboard. This right does not extend to the passengers.
Voting on the election day:
On the election day, voting takes place on Sunday 28 October from 9 a.m. till 8 p.m.
On the election day, you may only vote in the municipality and at the polling station that is
shown on the information card sent to you.
Voting at home:
If your ability to move or function is restricted so much that you cannot reach the polling
station without unreasonable difficulty, you may vote at home during the advance voting
period. If you wish to vote at home, you need to register for this at the latest on Tuesday 16
October 2012 by 4 p.m.
The registrations are taken by the central election committee of your municipality of
residence. Under certain conditions, a family caregiver living in the same household with a
disabled person may vote at the same time with him/her.
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How to vote
You have to go to the polling station to cast your vote. You may only vote for one candidate
whose name is included on the combined list of candidates in your home municipality.
1) Prove your identity to the election official by showing your passport, identity
card, driving licence or other similar document. The election official will give you a
ballot.
2) Go into the voting booth. Only one person at a time may enter the voting booth.
3) Write the number of the candidate you wish to vote for on the ballot. You may
only vote for one candidate. Write the candidate’s number in the circle shown on the
inside of the ballot. Do not write anything else on the ballot. Fold the ballot so that
the number you wrote stays on the inside of the fold and cannot be seen from the
outside.
4) Take the folded ballot to the election official. He or she will stamp the ballot.
5a) If you are voting on the election day, drop the stamped ballot into the ballot
box.
5b) If you are casting your vote in advance voting, the election official will give you
an election envelope in which you will seal the stamped ballot.
If your ability to write the candidate number on the ballot is substantially impaired, you may
use a polling assistant selected by you or an election official to help you. The assistant may
not be a person who is standing for election. The assistant has the duty to safeguard the
secrecy of the ballot by keeping confidential any information he or she may have received in
connection with the voting.
Additional Information
- For more information on the elections, contact the central election committee of
your municipality. In questions concerning your personal right to vote, you can
contact the Local Register Office. You will find the addresses and telephone numbers
of both on your information card.
- For the addresses and opening hours of polling stations for advance voting, the
candidate register and other information on the elections, visit the election website
of the Ministry of Justice at www.vaalit.fi
- The information on candidates in the municipal elections will be posted on the
Ministry of Justice’s election website by the beginning of October, and the
information on polling stations for advance voting, by mid-August.
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE