Constituencies in Finland

Constituencies for the 2015 general election

Since the first election to Parliament in 1907 still in the Grand Duchy of Finland is Finland in constituencies divided. The layout and the number of constituencies have been adjusted several times in accordance with the population development. According to the 2000 constitution , there must be 12 to 18 constituencies, and the Åland autonomous region also has its own constituency with one MP. The layout of the constituencies is independent of the other administrative structure, it corresponds more to the historical provincial division in Finland .

Until 1994, the electors for the election of the Finnish President in the constituencies were also elected. Since the president is directly elected by the people, the whole of Finland has formed a constituency for the presidential election. This also applies to the European elections. For statistical purposes, however, the votes of the parliamentary constituencies are also recorded in these elections.

Parliamentary elections

The number of MPs elected in each constituency except Åland is determined as follows: First, the number of residents of the constituency who are Finnish citizens six months before the election is divided by the total number of Finnish citizens, the result is with 199 multiplied. If not all seats are distributed due to the integer result of this calculation, the remaining ones are distributed to the constituencies in descending order of the fractional parts. According to the constitution, Åland has one member in the Finnish parliament, which corresponds roughly to the population of the autonomous region. Traditionally, the Åland electorate joins the parliamentary group of the Swedish People's Party (SFP-RKP). The constituencies are numbered consecutively from south to north.

Finland does not have a threshold clause like the German five percent or the Austrian four percent hurdle . Due to the limited number of mandates that are awarded in each constituency, however, there is still an indirect variable hurdle that a party must overcome in order to send members to parliament. In Uusimaa, where 35 MPs are elected, it is around 2.8%, in Lapland, where only 7 MPs are to be elected, it is around 12.5%. The exact percentage depends on the exact election result. In Åland, a party needs the most votes in order to be able to stand for one MP.

In each constituency, the parties may nominate as many candidates as there are MPs to be elected. In the constituencies where fewer MPs are to be elected, they may nominate up to 14 candidates. Parties can form electoral alliances, but are then still bound by the upper limit for individual parties. In the Åland constituency, each party can run up to four candidates.

Constituency name			Election 2011		Election 2015
German	Finnish	Swedish	number	MPs	number	MPs	Eligible voters	W. per seat
Helsinki	Helsinki	Helsingfors	01	21st	01	22nd	521.875	23,722
Uusimaa	Uusimaa	Nyland	02	35	02	35	747,900	21,369
Real Finland	Varsinais-Suomi	Egentliga Finland	03	17th	03	17th	387,499	22,794
Satakunta	Satakunta	Satkunda	04th	9	04th	8th	185.799	23,225
Åland	Ahvenanmaa	Åland	05	1	05	1	27,017	27,017
Malice	Malice	Tavastland	06th	14th	06th	14th	308.319	22,023
Pirkanmaa	Pirkanmaa	Birkaland	07th	18th	07th	19th	409.815	21,569
Kymi	Kymi	Kymi	08th	12	-	-	-	-
South Savo	Etela-Savo	Södra Savolax	09	6th	-	-	-	-
Southeast Finland	Kaakkois-Suomi	Sydöstra Finland	-	-	08th	17th	387,403	22,788
North Savo	Pohjois-Savo	Norra Savolax	10	9	-	-	-	-
North Karelia	Pohjois-Karjala	Norra Karelen	11	6th	-	-	-	-
Savo Karelia	Savo-Karjalaa	Savolax-Karelen	-	-	09	16	342,671	21,417
Vaasa	Vaasa	Vasa	12	17th	10	16	369.917	23,120
Central Finland	Keski-Suomi	Mellersta Finland	13	10	11	10	226.176	22,618
Oulu	Oulu	Uleåborg	14th	18th	12	18th	386.036	21,446
Lapland	Lappi	Lapland	15th	7th	13	7th	162.906	23,272

Historical development of the constituency division

From 1962

The 15 constituencies of Finland from 1962 to 2011

For the 1962 election, the previous constituencies of North and South Vaasa were merged to form the constituency of Vaasa, so that from 1962 to 2011 there were 15 constituencies. For the 2015 election, Kymi and South Savo were merged to form the new constituency of Southeast Finland, and North Savo and North Karelia have since formed the constituency of Savo-Karelia. This puts the number of constituencies at 13 and the lower limit permitted by the constitution.

The distribution of mandates has changed little over the years. The biggest change occurred for Helsinki and the Uusimaa surrounding Helsinki. Both together grew from 37 seats in 1962 to 57 in the 2015 election. This was mainly at the expense of the Southeast Finnish constituencies, which were subsequently merged.

Constituency	Seats
	1962	1966	1970	1972	1975	1979	1983	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015
Helsinki	20th	21st	22nd	22nd	21st	20th	20th	20th	20th	19th	20th	21st	21st	21st	22nd
Uusimaa	17th	18th	20th	21st	24	26th	27	29	30th	31	32	33	34	35	35
Varsinais-Suomi	16	16	16	16	16	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th	17th
Satakunta	14th	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	11	10	9	9	9	8th
Åland	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Malice	14th	14th	14th	15th	15th	15th	15th	15th	13	13	13	14th	14th	14th	14th
Pirkanmaa	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	15th	16	16	18th	18th	18th	19th
Kymi (1948-2011)	15th	15th	15th	15th	15th	15th	14th	14th	13	13	13	12	12	12	-
South Savo (until 2011)	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	8th	8th	8th	8th	6th	6th	6th	-
Southeast Finland (since 2015)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17th
North Savo (until 2011)	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	-
North Karelia (until 2011)	10	9	8th	8th	8th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	6th	6th	-
Savo-Karelia (since 2015)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	16
Vaasa	20th	20th	19th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	17th	17th	17th	17th	16
Central Finland	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Oulu	18th	18th	18th	18th	17th	17th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th	18th
Lapland	9	10	9	9	9	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th	7th	7th	7th	7th
all in all	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200

1907 to 1958

Constituencies in Finland until 1938

For the first election in 1907, the country was divided into 16 constituencies according to the provinces . These were in effect until the 1936 election, with the distribution of mandates across the constituencies being adjusted every ten years from 1917 onwards according to the population development. From 1936 onwards, this happened with every election. For the election in 1939, the constituency of Nordoulu was divided into Südoulu (afterwards only Oulu) and Lapland, so that there were only 15 constituencies, each of which had at least 7 mandates to assign.

Due to the Finnish-Soviet wars between 1939 and 1944 ( Winter War and Continuation War ), Finland had to cede large parts of Karelia to the Soviet Union. The residents of these areas were eligible to vote in their old constituencies in 1945. These were merged in 1948, the old residents continued to be eligible to vote in the new constituency of Kymi, and only from 1948 were they assigned to their new places of residence. At the same time, Åland became independent, so that the number of constituencies remained at 15. From 1954 Helsinki formed its own constituency, so that there were again 16.

In most constituencies, the number of seats changed little. An important exception is Uusimaa with Helsinki, which had grown from 23 mandates in 1907 to a total of 35 mandates in 1958, as well as the loss of Karelia.

Constituency	Seats
	1907  (a)	1917  (b)	1927  (c)	1936	1939	1945	1948	1951	1954	1958
Helsinki	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19th	19th
Uusimaa	23	25th	26th	29	30th	31	31	33	15th	16
Varsinais-Suomi	17th	16	16	15th	15th	14th	17th	16	16	16
Satakunta	17th	15th	15th	14th	14th	14th	13	15th	14th	14th
Åland	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	1
Malice	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	14th	14th	14th
Pirkanmaa	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	13	13	13
West Viipuri , until 1939/45 (d)	13	17th	16	17th	17th	15th	-	-	-	-
Ostviipuri , until 1939/45 (d)	17th	17th	17th	17th	18th	17th	-	-	-	-
Kymi , since 1948	-	-	-	-	-	-	32	15th	15th	15th
South Savo	14th	13	12	11	11	11	11	12	12	12
North Savo	13	12	12	12	12	11	11	13	13	12
North Karelia	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11
South Vasa	12	12	12	11	10	10	10	10	10	10
North Vaasa	10	10	10	9	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th
Central Finland	11	10	10	10	10	11	11	12	12	12
Südoulu , until 1936, from 1939 Oulu (e)	13	13	13	13	16	17th	17th	18th	18th	18th
Nordoulu , until 1936 (e)	6th	7th	8th	9	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lapland (s)	1	1	1	1	7th	8th	8th	8th	9	9
all in all	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200

(a) also applies to the 1908 , 1909 , 1910 , 1911 , 1913 and 1916
elections (b) also applies to the 1919 , 1922 and 1924 elections
(c) also applies to the 1929 , 1930 and 1933
(d) 1945 elections the constituencies of East and West Kymi, before they were united to form the constituency of Kymi
(e) In 1939, the constituency of Nordoulu was divided into Südoulu (thereafter only Oulu) and Lapland

Web links

• Electoral Law of Finland

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vaalikelpoisuus ja ehdokasasettelu ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Election and nomination of candidates, Finnish), Election page of the Finnish Ministry of Justice, last update February 9, 2015, accessed December 6, 2017 
2. ↑ People entitled to vote (English), Election page of the Finnish Ministry of Justice on the 2015 election, last update April 20, 2015, accessed December 5, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Vaalipiirien paikkamäärät eduskuntavaaleissa ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Number of constituencies in parliamentary elections), Ministry of Justice election page, accessed November 5, 2017