Poll: Helsinki residents not interested in direct election of mayor
Two thirds trust City Council to decide
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Most residents of Helsinki do not want to make the office of Mayor one that is determined by direct popular election.
According to a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup, only 27% of Helsinki residents wanted a direct election of the Mayor.
The present practice, in which the Mayor is chosen by the City Council, is satisfactory to 69% of respondents. The poll involved interviews with 1,100 Helsinki residents conducted in the last week of August.
The opinions did not correlate much with the respondents’ overall political views: a clear majority of supporters of all political parties were happy with the present system.
Supporters of parties of the left were slightly more likely than others to favour the direct election of the Mayor. Supporters of the conservative National Coalition Party were least enthusiastic about the idea of a direct election, with only 21% in favour of such a reform.
Blue-collar workers tended to support the direct election of the Mayor more than white-collar workers. The results indicate that the higher a respondent’s education, the more likely he or she was to support the present system.
Younger respondents tended to support a direct election more frequently than older ones.
Helsingin Sanomat
