Published: 18 October 2012

Nomination of candidates: A total of 37,125 candidates in Municipal elections 2012

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 37,125, of whom 787 were nominated by constituency associations. Of the candidates 22,703 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

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	37,125	8,401	6,987	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	3,260	506	712	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

Publication in pdf-format (46 pages 611.1 kB)

Reviews

1. Background analysis of candidates in Municipal elections 2012 (18.10.2012)

Tables

Tables in databases

1. Municipal elections - time series

7. Municipal elections 2012 - election result and data on voting by region

Excel tables of the Municipal elections 2004 have been replaced with corresponding PX-Web tables. Read more

Quality descriptions

Municipal elections, quality description (18.10.2012)

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: 9.5.2013].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kvaa/2012/01/kvaa_2012_01_2012-10-18_tie_001_en.html.

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