17 January, 2000
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Comparison to the previous Parliamentary elections: Halonen won in towns, Aho equally in different areas
Tarja Halonen, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, who got the highest number of votes in the first round of the Finnish Presidential election was most successful in towns and in strong areas of the Left Alliance, when the number of votes cast for her are compared to those cast for the Social Democratic Party in last year's Parliamentary elections. Her victory seems to vary more by population group than that of Esko Aho, the Centre Party candidate, who received the second highest number of votes.
The data are based on an analysis made by Statistics Finland, where the change in votes cast was compared to the 1999 Parliamentary elections by means of some variables. The analysis is based on data on voting in almost 2,000 areas.
Tarja Halonen won in high income areas, when the number of votes cast for her are compared to the number of votes cast for the Social Democratic Party in the previous Parliamentary elections. She also won in areas where the National Coalition Party has strong support. Of unemployment areas, Halonen gained more support from areas of low unemployment. The increase in the number of votes cast for Halonen compared to the number of votes cast for the SDP in the previous Parliamentary elections was smallest in areas where the Centre Party was strong, in sparsely populated areas, agricultural areas and areas where the proportion of pensioners is high.
Esko Aho got additional votes equally from various types of areas, when compared to the number of votes cast for the Centre Party in the previous Parliamentary elections. He appears to have done better than average in areas where the support for the Centre Party was weak in the previous Parliamentary elections. Additional votes were partly from areas where the National Coalition Party was strong. Aho also won in towns, semi-urban areas, manufacturing areas and areas with a low number of pensioners.
Riitta Uosukainen, the candidate of the National Coalition Party, lost most in areas where her party was strong, in service industry areas, towns and among well-paid voters and those who voted in favour of EU membership in the 1994 EU referendum. Coalition Party supporters seem to have transferred their votes mostly to Halonen.
The candidate of the Swedish People's Party, Elisabeth Rehn received some additional votes from all types of areas, when the number of votes cast for her is compared to the number of votes cast for the Swedish People's Party in the previous Parliamentary elections. In contrast, compared to the previous Presidential election, she lost evenly in all places, but most in high income areas. Rehn was the only candidate to have run in the previous Presidential election six years ago.
Heidi Hautala, the Green League candidate, retained the number of votes cast for her party in the previous Parliamentary elections best in agricultural and sparsely populated areas. The number of votes cast for the Greens contracted most in towns and service industry areas.
Source: Statistics Finland's election result service