Support for the largest opposition group in Parliament, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), is gathering pace in both the municipal and county council election campaigns.
Sunday 13 April is election day proper, after a week of advance voting ended at 8pm on Tuesday evening.
Two region-specific polls, one for each election, were commissioned by tabloid newspaper Iltalehti and show a strong lead for the SDP in the county council election — in which voters choose candidates to represent them on regional healthcare authorities.
In the county poll, the SDP's lead over the second-placed Centre Party, also in opposition, is three percentage points. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party (NCP) is further back in third place.
"It seems that the SDP now has a chance to become the largest party in several areas," Yle's election specialist Sami Borg said, adding that the Antti Lindtman-led SDP could unseat NCP as the most popular party in at least five regions.
The Centre Party, traditionally a rural-based party that tends to do well in local and regional elections, is likely to be the largest party in nine regions — based on the current projections.
The race is much tighter in the municipal elections, however, with the SDP sitting in pole position on a margin of just 0.6 percentage points ahead of Orpo's NCP.
Borg noted however that topping the poll in local and regional elections is not as important as it would be in parliamentary elections.
"In parliamentary elections, the position of the largest party is a big deal, because the largest party starts the government negotiations and is thus often also the prime minister's party," he said, but added that the results can still provide a snapshot of how well the government parties are faring at this mid-point in their legislative term.
"Parties and the media will look at what the situation ahead of the next parliamentary elections," Borg said. That vote is scheduled for April 2027.
The biggest party in each region and in each municipality also gets to choose the chair of the council they are voted onto, giving each successful party a degree of power in their area.
The All Points North podcast hosted a panel election special to discuss the key issues in Finland's municipal and council elections. You can watch the episode from the player below or listen via Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Advance voting hits 28%
Polling stations opened on Wednesday 2 April for people to cast their votes in advance, and closed this past Tuesday evening at 8pm.
During that time, 28.2 percent of the electorate took advantage of the early opportunity to vote in the municipal election, while 27 percent did so in the county elections.
In the previous municipal elections in 2021, the rate was 33 percent by the time advance voting polls closed. However, the two figures are not directly comparable because polls had been open for a period of two weeks in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic, while this year they were open for just one week.
The overall turnout in the 2021 municipal election was 55.1 percent.
The previous county council election, which was held in 2022, the advance voting turnout was 26.4 percent, with the overall turnout falling below 50 percent — coming in at 47.5 percent.
Yle News reporter Matt Schilke explains the differences between the two elections.
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