Voting activity back on the same level as in the 1990s
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In terms of voter turnout, Finnish citizens’ interest in politics increased appreciably at this election. As much as had been forecast, given the extraordinary nature of the campaign and the strong dividing lines between parties and points of view.
A total of 70.4 per cent of all Finnish adults of voting age turned out to cast a vote in the 2011 Parliamentary elections. In other words, electoral participation in the country increased by 2.5%-points from the previous Parliamentary elections in 2007. This is just as well, for 2007 had marked a new low. The numbers now climbed back over 70% for the first time since 1995.
In the constituency of Helsinki, the turnout was up by almost four percentage points to 69.6%, while in the constituency of Uusimaa the number of voters increased by 3%-points to 72.9%.
The laziest voters were found from the Åland Islands, where barely 51% turned out to vote.
On the mainland, the lowest figures were recorded in North and South Savo, where turnout just topped 66%.
The final results of the 2011 Parliamentary elections were:
Turnout: 70.4% (2007: 67.9%)
Number of votes cast: 2,937,086
Eligible voters: 4,392,880 (men 48.0%, women 52.0%)
National Coalition Party 44 seats (-6) 20.4%
Social Democratic Party 42 (-3) 19.1%
True Finns 39 (+34) 19.0%
Centre Party 35 (-16) 15.8%
Left Alliance 14 (-3) 8.1%
Green League 10 (-5) 7.2%
Swedish People's Party 9 (0) 4.3%
Christian Democrats 6 (-1) 4.0%
Others 1 (0) 2.0%
The "Others" in this case include several small parties who did not get a candidate through, and the representative from the Åland Islands, who traditionally sits with the Swedish People's Party and so could be seen as their tenth MP.
The proportion of men elected in the new assembly is 57% (116 MPs), while that of women is 43%.
As noted elsewhere, the number of MPs under the age of 30 increased markedly, from two to nine, while the numbers of those over the age of sixty remained unchanged at 31 of the 200 MPs in all.
Helsingin Sanomat
