Unusually large numbers of votes were rejected in municipal and regional elections across Finland on Sunday.
In some places, the number of rejected votes in regional elections was up by a factor of 10 compared to rejections in the last elections in 2022. As of midnight Sunday, more than 76,000 votes had been rejected in the whole country, compared to just over 7,100 in the last regional elections.
Among the reasons for ballots to be rejected are illegibility, being left blank, and being marked with something other than an official candidate number.
In the Pirkanmaa welfare county, for example, more than 8,900 votes were rejected, compared to 861 last time. In North Ostrobothnia, there were more than 6,400 rejected votes, compared to 541 in 2022.
The number of rejected votes in the municipal elections is lower than in the regional elections, but also clearly higher than in the 2021 elections for city councils.
So far, the municipal elections have seen the highest number of rejected votes in Tampere, Helsinki, Oulu, Turku, Espoo and Vantaa.
In Tampere, for example, almost 2,200 votes were rejected, up from 415 in the last election.
In Oulu, more than 1,600 votes were rejected, compared to 367 in 2021.
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