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 Paavo LIPPONEN
• 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/CENT)
  • Leader: Anneli JÄÄTTEENMÄKI
  • Seats won in last election: 48
• Party: Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)
  • Leader: Paavo LIPPONEN
  • Seats won in last election: 51
• Party: National Coalition Party
  • Leader: Ville ITÄLÄ
  • Seats won in last election: 46
• Party: Left Alliance (VAS)
  • Leader: Suvi-Anne SIIMES
  • Seats won in last election: 20
• Party: Green League
  • Leader: Osmo SOININVAARA
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• Party: Christian Democrats
  • Leader: Bjarne KALLIS
  • Seats won in last election: 10
• Party: Swedish People's Party of Finland (SFP)
  • Leader: Jan-Erik ENESTAM
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• Party: Finns Party
  • Leader: Hannu PURHO
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Alliance: Åland Coalition
  • Seats won in last election: 1

Population and registered voters:

• Population: 5,213,014 (2003)
• Registered Voters: 4,220,951 (2003)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,664,745 (2000)

·         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: 75 (following the 2003 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: 781,952 (est.)