Ties with mainland take centre stage during Åland election campaign

Little actual support for full independence from Finland

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The relationship between the semi-autonomous Åland Islands and mainland Finland has become one of the themes in the campaign for elections for the Parliament of Åland on Sunday. Municipal elections are also held on the same day.
      Themes during election debates include whether or not Åland should be allowed to decide on all of its taxes on its own, and how to make sure that the Swedish-speaking province remains monolingual.
      Relations with the mainland are not the main issue in the campaign, where the focus is on questions familiar in political debate in the rest of Finland: well-being, adequate medical care, education, and housing.
     
Nevertheless, issues related to the province's autonomous status have taken on a larger role during the campaign than in most previous elections, notes social scientist, Professor Göran Djupsund of the Turku-based Swedish language university Åbo Akademi.
      This is largely due to the activity of the small party Ålands framtid ("Åland's Future"), which wants national independence for Åland. Other parties have responded by putting forward issues related to autonomy, even though they do not demand full independence.
      Åland's political parties are not the same as on the mainland. Locked in the battle for status as the largest political group are the Centre Party and the Liberals.
      The Centre has focused more on greater autonomy than the Liberals have. The Centre wants Åland to have full control of its taxation, whereas the Liberals first want to assess the benefits and disadvantages of such a move.
      Currently Åland can decide only on spending in its budget. Finland deals with state taxation, out of which the province gets a fixed sum each year in return for the national taxes that are collected. Municipalities have their own taxes just as is the case on the mainland.
     
A poll published during the weekend suggests that a considerable boost for the Centre, and a decline for the Liberals are possible, compared with the previous election.
      However, it is pointed out that such surveys are not necessarily very accurate, as media outlets in the province with a population of just 27,000 cannot afford to commission very extensive opinion polls.
      Polling is more of a do-it-yourself operation, with local newspapers sending reporters to the streets and cafes to ask people at random whom they plan to vote for. It has turned out that last week, parties had sent text messages to recruit supporters to take part in a survey with a sampling of 100 people.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Wikipedia - Åland

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