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Published: 18 October 2012

Nomination of candidates: A total of 37,124 candidates in Municipal elections 2012


Corrected on 19 March 2014. The corrected numbers are indicated in red. Several complaints on Municipal elections 2012 have been filed to administrative courts and the results of the elections have been changed by the decisions of administrative courts (errors in source data have also been corrected).

All of the 16 political parties registered in the register of political parties nominated candidates. The total number of candidates in the 304 municipalities in Mainland Finland is 37,124, of whom 787 were nominated by constituency associations. Of the candidates 22,702 are men and 14,422 are women. Of the candidates 7,292 are current councillors in municipal councils and 162 are Members of Parliament. The data are based on Statistics Finland's statistics on the nomination of candidates for the Municipal elections 2012.

Women's and men’s proportions of candidates in Municipal elections 1953-2012

Women's and men’s proportions of candidates in Municipal elections 1953-2012

The proportion of female candidates fell by 1.6 percentage points from the previous Municipal elections and is now 38.8 per cent. Before the nomination of candidates for the 2012 Municipal elections, the proportion of women among Municipal election candidates has been rising continuously from one election to another from the 1950s onwards. In these elections the proportions of female candidates from the parliamentary parties are 56.8 per cent for the Green League, 45.3 per cent for the Christian Democrats, 43.5 per cent for the Swedish People's Party, 40.4 per cent for the Social Democratic Party, 39.8 per cent for the Centre Party, 39.1 per cent for the National Coalition Party, 37.9 per cent for the Left Alliance, and 23.3 per cent for the True Finns. Compared with the number of candidates in the previous elections, the total number of Municipal election candidates rose for the parliamentary parties only among the True Finns and the Green League.

The average age of the candidates in the Municipal elections 2012 is close to 49 years, which is one year more than in the previous Municipal elections. The proportion of candidates aged 30 or under was 10.0 per cent, which is 0.7 percentage points lower than in the previous Municipal elections. In contrast, the proportion of candidates aged 65 or over rose from 9.2 per cent in the previous Municipal elections to 13.5 per cent of all candidates. In all, there are more than 5,000 candidates aged 65 or over in these elections, which is nearly 1,500 candidates more than in the 2008 elections.

In Municipal elections candidates can be nominated by registered political parties and constituency associations established by persons entitled to vote. Parties can form electoral alliances and constituency associations can form joint lists. Each party or electoral alliance may nominate at most one and a half times the number of candidates as the number of elected councillors in the municipality.

Number of candidates by party and constituency in Municipal elections 2012

Constituency Total   KESK   SDP   KOK   PS   VAS  VIHR   KD   RKP  
Mainland Finland 37,124 8,401 6,986 6,874 4,394 3,506 2,299 1,870 1,350
Helsinki 1,064 105 127 127 126 127 127 88 89
Uusimaa 5,289 529 1,023 1,009 576 432 617 268 595
Varsinais-Suomi 3,651 756 690 855 364 330 238 122 132
Satakunta 2,203 504 497 471 227 293 102 85 -
Häme 2,857 576 653 732 275 243 169 149 -
Pirkanmaa 3,259 506 711 674 434 345 268 163 1
Kymi 2,088 428 441 453 225 111 124 147 8
South Savo 1,496 441 343 259 181 48 67 95 -
North Savo 2,004 571 339 318 266 247 85 120 -
North Karelia 1,513 429 387 203 237 90 70 73 -
Vaasa 4,201 1,039 679 704 582 182 96 334 514
Central Finland 2,147 594 434 374 262 192 110 125 -
Oulu 3,543 1,355 417 452 473 485 172 75 2
Lapland 1,809 568 245 243 166 381 54 26 9

Number of candidates by party and constituency in Municipal elections 2012

Constituency SKP Pirate
Pty  		 IP   KTP   Change
2011  		 STP  KA   Liberty
Pty 		 Constit.
assoc.
Mainland Finland 304 121 89 47 44 39 12 1 787
Helsinki 60 34 11 4 3 21 6 - 9
Uusimaa 46 23 10 21 8 7 4 - 121
Varsinais-Suomi 38 13 10 1 16 5 - 1 80
Satakunta 2 - 1 2 - - - - 19
Häme 12 6 3 4 3 - - - 32
Pirkanmaa 76 19 7 - 6 2 - - 47
Kymi - 6 15 2 1 - - - 127
South Savo 1 4 1 - 1 - - - 55
North Savo 11 - 9 4 - 1 - - 33
North Karelia 7 3 - - - - - - 14
Vaasa 3 2 11 1 - 3 - - 51
Central Finland 25 10 5 - - - - - 16
Oulu 9 - 6 - 4 - 2 - 91
Lapland 14 1 - 8 2 - - - 92

Further information about Statistics Finland's election result services

Tables in databases


Source: Municipal Elections 2012, nomination of candidates and background analysis of candidates, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kimmo Moisio 09 1734 3239, Jaana Asikainen 09 1734 3506, Kaija Ruotsalainen 09 1734 3599, vaalit@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 18.10.2012

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Municipal elections [e-publication].
ISSN=2323-1114. Nomination of candidates and background analysis of candidates 2012. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 19.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kvaa/2012/01/kvaa_2012_01_2012-10-18_tie_001_en.html