Candidate eligibility in county elections

A person is eligible to stand as a candidate in county elections if they

  1. are domiciled in the wellbeing services county in question (their municipality of residence belongs to the wellbeing services county in question),
  2. have the right to vote in the county elections in some wellbeing services county, and
  3. are not without legal capacity.

Provisions on the restrictions on candidate eligibility are laid down in section 77 of the Act on Wellbeing Services Counties. Under the Act, the following are not eligible for election to a county council:

  1. central government officials who perform supervisory tasks directly concerning a wellbeing services county; 
  2. persons employed by a wellbeing services county who work in a senior position within an area of responsibility of the county executive or a board or in an unincorporated county enterprise, or in another comparable position of responsibility; 
  3. persons employed by a corporate entity or foundation under the control of a wellbeing services county who, in terms of their position, are comparable to persons employed by a wellbeing services county as referred to in paragraph 2; 
  4. persons employed by a joint county authority for wellbeing services, of which the wellbeing services county in question is a member, who, in terms of their position, are comparable to persons employed by a wellbeing services county as referred to in paragraph 2. However, persons in the employment relationships referred to above are eligible for election as county councillors, if this employment relationship ends before the county councillors’ term begins. 

Nomination of candidates

Political parties and constituency associations may nominate candidates in county elections. Political parties may form electoral alliances and constituency associations may form joint lists. The nominated candidates stand as candidates in the entire wellbeing services county. 

The candidates of a political party are nominated by a party association operating in the wellbeing services county in question that the central organisation of the political party has appointed to the task and reported to the county election board. 

A constituency association may be established by at least 50 eligible voters domiciled in the wellbeing services county.

The maximum number of candidates on a list of candidates is the number of county councillors to be elected in the wellbeing services county in question multiplied by 1.25.

The master list of candidates contains the candidate number, name, profession and municipality of residence of each candidate.

Political parties and constituency associations submit their candidate applications to the county election boards. See the public notices of the county election boards on the acceptance of candidate applications in Finnish and in Swedish.

The Ministry of Justice has drawn up candidate nomination forms for county elections in Finnish and in Swedish.