Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (left), the Chairman of the Centre Party, and his Social Democrat opposite number Paavo Lipponen, the Speaker of Parliament, seen at the headquarters of the Finnish Broadcasting Company during Sunday evening's election special. Lipponen had reason to smile: his party emerged with 24.1% of the vote, up by 1.1%-points from the last municipal elections in 2000. The Centre Party saw an almost commensurate decline in their support, but all in all the election was a less than dramatic affair. Voter turnout was up slightly, but remained rather disappointing at only at 58.6%.
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