At stake in this election:

• 200 seats in the Parliament (Eduskunta)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Tarja HALONEN
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mar KIVINIEMI
• Assembly: Finland has a unicameral Parliament (Eduskunta) with 200 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 6-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament to serve a 4-year term.
• In the Parliament (Eduskunta), 199 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 1 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** There are 14 multi-member constituencies with anywhere from 6 to 33 seats. Seats are distributed among the individual parties, or alliances of several parties, in accordance with the d'Hondt method.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Center Party of Finland (KESK) / Suomen Keskusta
  • Leader: Mari KIVINIEMI
  • Seats won in last election: 51
• Party: National Coalition Party (KOK) / Kansallinen Kokoomus
  • Leader: Jyrki KATAINEN
  • Seats won in last election: 50
• Party: Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) / Sosialidemokraattinen
  • Leader: Jutta URPILAINEN
  • Seats won in last election: 45
• Party: Left Wing Alliance (VAS) / Vasemmistoliitto****
  • Leader: Paavo ARHINMAKI
  • Seats won in last election: 17
• Party: Green League (VIHR) / Vihreä liitto
  • Leader: Anni SINNEMAKI
  • Seats won in last election: 15
• Party: Christian Democrats in Finland (KD) / Kristillisdemokraatit
  • Leader: Paivi RASANEN
  • Seats won in last election: 7
• Party: Swedish People's Party in Finland (SFP) / Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue
  • Leader: Stefan WALLIN
  • Seats won in last election: 9
• Party: True Finns (PeruSS) / Perussuomalaiset
  • Leader: Timo SOINI
  • Seats won in last election: 5

**** The Left Alliance (VAS) is composed of People's Democratic League and Democratic Alternative.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 5,388,272 (2011)
• Registered Voters: 4,159,857 (April 2011)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,742,662 (2011)

·         Is Finland a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Finland ratified CEDAW: Yes (4 September 1986)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 85 (following the 2011 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 24 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Finland a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Finland ratified CRPD: Yes (11 May 2016)

·         Population with a disability: 808,240 (est.)