Parliamentary elections will be held in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 2 April 2023, or earlier if the parliament is dissolved ahead of schedule, and will elect members of parliament for the 2023–2027 convocation.

Background

The former prime minister,

Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020. Biography A lawyer by profession, ...

, resigned from his post due to a scandal regarding the

Finnish Postal Service Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is t ...

(Posti). Rinne's

Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly kno ...

elected a 34-year-old MP from the province of

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme and Sou ...

Sanna Marin Sanna Mirella Marin (; born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Finland since 2019. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), she has been a Parliament of Finland, Member of Pa ...

, to replace him. Marin took office on 10 December 2019.

COVID-19 effect

During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Finland The COVID-19 pandemic in Finland has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 29 January 2020, the first case in Finland was confirmed, when a Chinese tourist visiting Ivalo from Wuhan tested positive for the virus. Background ...

, the Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sanna Marin initially saw a sharp rise in popularity, and the

Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

, which had been leading polls before the pandemic, saw a dip in support. However, by April 2021 the Finns Party had overtaken the Social Democrats in opinion polls and were placed first in all representative polls conducted between January and July 2021. After the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

performed surprisingly strongly in the June 2021 municipal elections and the Finns Party performing worse than pre-election polling indicated, the latter saw another decline in their popularity, falling behind the National Coalition and the Social Democrats. However, by late 2022 the Finns party had returned back to polling at the same level as the previous elections (17%). During late 2022 the Centre Party was polling at its lowest-ever level, with less than 10% support.

Electoral system

The 200 members of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

(''Eduskunta'') were elected using

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in 13 multi-member constituencies, with seats allocated according to the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

. The number of elected representatives is proportional to the population in the district six months prior to the elections.

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

has single member electoral district and its own party system.Electoral Districts
, Vaalit.fi, accessed 3 June 2015.

Opinion polls

Notes

References

{{Finnish elections General elections in Finland

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...