Poll indicates care for the sick and elderly at top of voters' agenda

Availability and price of energy are other important issues

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According to a fresh survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by research agency Suomen Gallup (TNS Gallup), Finnish voters place care for the sick and elderly at the top of their list of important issues in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
     
In the order of importance , the five most important issues in the March elections appear to be care for the sick, care for the elderly, the availability and price of energy, the country's ageing population, and unemployment.
      Finland's relations with NATO and the United States, EU issues, globalisation, immigration, and development aid were all down at the bottom of the list.
      The voters top priorities appear to be practically unchanged from the previous run-up to the parliamentary elections in 2003.
     
Even though the survey indicates that there is little variation in the key priorities between the supporters of political parties, certain differences do exist between them.
      For example, only the supporters of the Social Democratic Party and the Left Alliance place the position of the poor among their key priorities, while only the National Coalition Party voters include the availability and price of energy as well as taxation in the list of the most important election issues.
      Furthermore, the voters of the Green League regard nature conservation and climate change as more important than do the supporters of other parties.
     
The survey is based on a total of 1,295 Internet interviews conducted between January 5th and 10th. The interviewees, forming a representative sample of the population of continental Finland aged 18 or above, were given 41 issues to rate on a four-step scale.
      The Finnish parliamentary elections will be held in March 2007. The election day itself is March 18th, and advance voting will take place in Finland on March 7th to 13th and abroad on March 7th to 10th).


Links:
  Parliament of Finland
  Ministry of Justice: Parliamentary Elections 2007

Helsingin Sanomat