The Swedish Assembly of Finland ( sv, Svenska Finlands Folkting, fi, Suomenruotsalaiset kansankäräjät, although often referred to as ''Folktinget'' even in Finnish) is an official consultative parliament representing the Swedish-speaking minority 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 ...

Elections

Elections are held every four years, and candidates are nominated by the

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

which are either bilingual or Swedish-speaking. The assembly has 75 seats, where 70 are filled on the basis of

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

election results, and five are appointed by the

Parliament of Åland The Lagting, or ''Lagtinget'', is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats, which makes for approximately one seat per 700 voters in 2022. Legislativ ...

( sv, Lagtinget).

Purpose

The assembly is a forum for political discussion on issues concerning Swedish speakers, and it also functions as an interest group for Swedish-speaking population. It also engages in research on demographic issues and publishes information to the public about the situation of the Swedish-speaking Finns.

Leadership

Astrid Thors Astrid Gunilla Margareta Thors (born 6 November 1957) has been a Member of the Finnish Parliament 19 March 2003 – 4 September 2013. A Finnish-Swedish politician, formerly of the Swedish People's Party, Thors is a Candidate of Law and held sever ...

was chairperson of the Swedish Assembly of Finland 2005 – 2007. She was succeeded by

Ulla-Maj Wideroos Ulla-Maj Wideroos (born 22 October 1951 in Jakobstad, Finland) is a Finnish politician and former minister who belongs to the Swedish People's Party. She has an education in economy and trade. Wideroos served as the second Minister of Finance in ...

in 2007, by

Anna-Maja Henriksson Anna-Maja Kristina Henriksson (née Forss; born 7 January 1964) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish politician. She has served as Finland's Minister of Justice, in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet and Alexander Stubb's cabinet from 2011 to 2015, Antti Rinne ...

in 2009, by

Christina Gestrin Anna Christina Gestrin (born 12 January 1967 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician, former park ranger, Member of Parliament from 2000 to 2015 and former vice chairman of the Swedish People's Party of Finland (1998-2005). Gestrin lives on an est ...

in 2011, by

Thomas Blomqvist Thomas Blomqvist (born 15 January 1965) is a Finnish politician, born in Ekenäs in current Raseborg. Before entering to the national politics he worked as a farmer and an entrepreneur. Blomqvist was elected to the municipal council of Ekenä ...

in 2015 and by

Sandra Bergqvist Sandra Ida Christina Bergqvist (born 14 April 1980 at Nagu) is a Finnish politician serving as member of parliament for the Finland Proper constituency. She was elected to the Parliament in 2019. She is also the chairperson of the Swedish Assemb ...

in 2019.

External links

Swedish Assembly of Finland
(in both Swedish and Finnish)
Swedish in Finland
a brochure in English and French by (and in part about) the Assembly {{Authority control Swedish-speaking population of Finland Politics of Finland

Elections

Purpose

Leadership

See also

External links