County elections and municipal elections - information on elections and voting in Finland

13.01.2025

County elections and municipal elections will be held simultaneously in April 2025. By casting a vote, you can influence who will decide on important matters that affect the everyday lives of us all for the next four years.

In the county elections, voters will elect representatives for county councils. County councils decide on the organisation and provision of health and social services and rescue services in wellbeing services counties. 

The most important matters of a municipality are decided by the municipal council. The members of the municipal council, i.e. the municipal councillors, are elected through the municipal election. The municipal election is held every four years. The number of municipal councillors depends on the population of the municipality. 
 

You can vote either in advance or on election day 

Election day is Sunday 13 April 2025. The advance voting period is in Finland from 2 to 8 April 2025 and abroad from 2 to 5 April 2025. More information on the advance polling stations and their opening hours will be available in the Information and Result Service of the Ministry of Justice as of 24 January 2025.

On election day, you can only vote at the polling station of your voting district. Your election day polling station will be specified on the polling card to be sent to you before the elections. You can also search for your election day polling station based on your home address in the Polling Station Service run by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency starting on 18 March 2025.  

Who has the right to vote?

County elections:
In the 2025 county elections, citizens of Finland, other EU Member States, Iceland and Norway who reside in a wellbeing services county and reach the age of 18 years on election day 13 April 2025 at the latest are entitled to vote. 
In addition, other foreign nationals residing in a wellbeing services county are entitled to vote in the county elections under certain conditions. Further information on the right to vote in county elections is available here.
Residents of Helsinki do not have the right to vote in the county elections, because Helsinki is not a wellbeing services county nor does it belong to any of the counties. The City of Helsinki is responsible for health and social services and rescue services in Helsinki.

Municipal elections:
In the 2025 municipal elections, citizens of Finland, other EU Member States, Iceland and Norway who reside in the municipality in question and reach the age of 18 years on election day 13 April 2025 at the latest are entitled to vote. 
In addition, foreign nationals residing in the municipality are entitled to vote in the municipal elections under certain conditions. Further information on the right to vote in municipal elections is available here.

You can fins all the information you need on county elections and municipal elections on the vaalit.fi-website.

Gå till "Information om kommande val"