Number of candidates 10,097 in County elections 2025

Majority nominated for both elections

Of all candidates, around 97 per cent were nominated by the parties elected to the present Parliament (National Coalition Party, Finns Party, Finnish Social Democratic Party, Centre Party of Finland, Green League, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party in Finland, Christian Democrats in Finland, Movement Now). Compared to the 2022 elections, the number of candidates fell most for the Movement Now and the Finns Party and grew particularly for the Left Alliance.

Of the parties outside the Parliament, the highest number of candidates were nominated by Vapauden liitto (Freedom Alliance) (96 candidates) and the lowest by the Open Party (3 candidates). The number of candidates nominated in the elections by constituency associations is 55.

Candidates are able to run simultaneously in both of the elections in 2025. In all, 7.6 per cent of all candidates in the County elections are nominated only for the County elections. Thus, 92.4 per cent of the candidates in the County elections are nominated for both county and municipal councils. The Swedish People's Party has the highest number of candidates nominated only for county councils, 19.9 per cent of the candidates. The Finns Party has the largest proportion of County election candidates in both elections, 97.9 per cent.

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Of the candidates nominated for the County elections, 51 are current Members of Parliament, 933 county councillors and 2,339 are current municipal councillors. Thirty-seven of the candidates were currently in all three organs, that is, they are Members of Parliament, and both county and municipal councillors. Seven of the candidates were in Parliament and in a municipal council, five in Parliament and in a county council. Two of the candidates in the County elections are only Members of Parliament. In absolute numbers, the Coalition Party has the most MPs (15 candidates) and the Greens the least (2 candidates) among the candidates. The Centre Party has the highest number of current county councillors (209 candidates) and the Movement Now has the lowest (3 candidates).

Nearly 48 per cent of the candidates are women

In the County elections 2025, altogether 5,283 of the candidates are men and 4,814 women. Women's proportion of candidates is thus 47.7 per cent, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than in the 2022 County elections.

Of all parties, the proportion of female candidates is smallest for the Liberal Party (8.3%) and biggest for the Green League (63.2%). In addition to the Green League, over one-half of the Animal Rights Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party, Left Alliance and Christian Democrat candidates are women. Among the parliamentary parties, the proportion of women is lowest in the Finns Party (28.5%). Women's proportion of candidates grew compared to the 2022 elections in all parliamentary parties except for the Christian Democrats, where the proportion remained unchanged.

Women make up 50.5 per cent of all persons entitled to vote. The proportion of women is slightly under 50 per cent only in the wellbeing services counties of Kainuu, Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, and Vantaa and Kerava. The underrepresentation of women among candidates is highest in the constituency of Central Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, where women's proportion of candidates is over eight percentage points lower than their proportion of persons entitled to vote. By contrast, women's proportion of candidates is two percentage points higher in the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa and 0.2 percentage points higher in the wellbeing services counties of Kanta-Häme and Southwest Finland than their proportion of persons entitled to vote. Compared to the previous elections, women's proportion of candidates grew most in the constituencies of Päijät-Häme and Kainuu, by 5.7 percentage points in each.

Age distributions of female and male candidates differ from each other

The average age of the candidates is 50.4 years and that of persons entitled to vote 51.9 years. The average age of male candidates is 51.4 years and that of female candidates 49.3 years. Female candidates are, on average, 3.9 years younger than women entitled to vote, whereas male candidates are 0.8 years older than men entitled to vote. Of all candidates, 8.2 per cent are aged under 30 and 26.6 per cent are aged over 60. Among persons entitled to vote, 16.0 per cent are aged under 30 and 36.9 per cent are aged over 60.

The age distributions of male and female candidates differ clearly from one another. There are more women among the candidates than men in the 30 to 49 age group, while there are generally more men in younger and older age groups. The proportion of men is emphasised in the youngest and oldest age groups: two thirds of the candidates aged 18 are men, and the proportion of men among candidates aged 65 or over is 60.9 per cent. The female majority is biggest among candidates aged 35 to 39, of whom 52.9 per cent are women.

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The number of both female and male candidates is highest in the age group of those aged at least 65. Altogether 21 per cent of male candidates and 15 per cent of female candidates belong to this age group. However, for both sexes the proportion of the age group among candidates is smaller than among persons entitled to vote. In all, 28 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women entitled to vote are aged at least 65. The proportions of women aged 35 to 64 and men aged 40 to 64 among candidates are larger than the corresponding age groups among persons entitled to vote.

Of all parties, the Christian Democrats have the oldest candidates (53.5 years) and the Open Party the youngest (28.7 years). Among the parliamentary parties, the Green League candidates have the youngest average age (45.3 years). Among the parliamentary parties, the Christian Democrats (35.4%) and the Centre Party (34.5%) have in relative terms the highest number of candidates aged over 60 and the Green League (12.9%) and the Swedish People's Party (11.8%) have the highest number of candidates aged under 30.

Number of candidates of foreign background highest among Christian Democrats

Of persons entitled to vote, 4.4 per cent are Swedish speakers and 7.4 per cent speak other languages than national languages. Of all candidates in the 2025 County elections, 92.0 per cent are Finnish or Sami speakers, 5.1 per cent Swedish speakers and 2.8 per cent foreign-language speakers. The proportion of Swedish and foreign-language speaking candidates grew slightly from the previous County elections, but the changes were small. Among the parliamentary parties, the proportion of foreign-language speaking candidates is highest in the Social Democratic Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats, 3.6 per cent.

Of the candidates, 2.9 per cent are of foreign background and of persons entitled to vote 7.7 per cent. The right to vote in the County elections is determined by domicile, so in relative terms more persons entitled to vote have foreign background than in the Parliamentary elections, for example. Altogether 8.8 per cent of the population living in wellbeing services counties were of foreign background in 2023. Among the parliamentary parties, the Christian Democrats have in relative terms the highest number of candidates of foreign background (4.3 per cent of the party's candidates) and the Finns Party the lowest (1.8%).

Green League candidates have the highest level of education

Of the candidates, 6.9 per cent do not have a post-comprehensive level qualification. The proportion of candidates with at least Bachelor's degrees is 48.4 per cent. Of persons entitled to vote, 24.3 per cent have at least Bachelor’s degrees, and 22.6 per cent have no post-comprehensive level qualification. The difference in the educational level between persons entitled to vote and candidates can partly be explained by the different age structure of persons entitled to vote and candidates.

The candidates of the Green Party have the highest level of education, as 44.4 per cent of them have Master’s or doctoral or equipment level degrees. The Coalition Party (40.8%) and the Swedish People's Party (38.9%) have the next biggest share of candidates with at least Master's degrees. Among the parliamentary parties, the Movement Now (10.0%) and the Finns Party (11.3%) have the lowest share of candidates with this level of education. Of the candidates of other parties than the parliamentary parties, close on 20 per cent have Master's or doctoral or equivalent level degrees and around 11 per cent have no post-comprehensive level qualification.

Persons entitled to vote and candidates by educational level in County elections 2025, share (%)

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Majority of candidates working

The latest statistical data on the population’s main type of activity are from the end of 2023. At that time, slightly over one-half of persons entitled to vote were employed, while around three-quarters of the candidates were employed persons. The difference is mainly due to the age structure. Of the candidates, around 18 per cent are aged 65 or over, while 30 per cent of persons entitled to vote have already turned 65. Nearly one-third of persons entitled to vote are pensioners, but only around 13 per cent of the candidates. In relative terms, there were more students and unemployed persons among persons entitled to vote than among candidates.

Among the parliamentary parties, the Coalition Party (80.6%) and the Green League (79.9%) have in relative terms the biggest share of employed candidates, the Movement Now (67.5%) and the Left Alliance (68.7%) the lowest. Among the parliamentary parties, the Christian Democrats have the biggest share of pensioner candidates (18.7%). Of the candidates nominated by other parties than the parliamentary parties, 57.8 per cent were employed, while the proportions of the unemployed (14.2%) and students (8.8%) were clearly higher than among the parliamentary party candidates.

Candidates' income level higher than that of persons entitled to vote

The median disposable income of the candidates is about EUR 34,000 and that of persons entitled to vote around EUR 25,100. The candidates' disposable income is around 36 per cent higher than that of persons entitled to vote. This is largely explained by the candidates' higher level of education and the larger share of employed persons compared to persons entitled to vote.

The candidates’ income varies by party from around EUR 42,000 in the Coalition Party to about EUR 29,000 in the Left Alliance. The candidates of parties outside the Parliament and constituency associations are closest to the voters measured by income with a median income of around EUR 26,700.

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When the population entitled to vote is arranged according to the income of 2023 and divided into ten equal parts, the income deciles of the population entitled to vote are generated. Of all candidates, 24.6 per cent belong to the highest income decile.

Of the candidates, those representing the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party in Finland belong to the higher end of the income distribution. Almost 48 per cent of male candidates and about 38.5 per cent of female candidates in the National Coalition Party belong to the highest income decile. Among the candidates of the Swedish People's Party, 42.5 per cent of men and 32.4 per cent of women belong to the highest income decile. Of the parliamentary parties, the Left Alliance has the smallest share of candidates in the highest income decile, around 12 per cent of male candidates and about 10 per cent of female candidates.