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 Matti VANHANEN
• 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)
  • Leader: Matti VANHANEN
  • Seats won in this election: 51
  • Seats won in last election: 55
• Party: National Coalition Party (KOK)
  • Leader: Jyrki KATAINEN
  • Seats won in this election: 50
  • Seats won in last election: 40
• Party: Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP)
  • Leader: Eero HEINALUOMA
  • Seats won in this election: 45
  • Seats won in last election: 53
• Party: Left Wing Alliance (VAS)****
  • Leader: Martti KORHONEN
  • Seats won in this election: 17
  • Seats won in last election: 19
• Party: Green League (VIHR)
  • Leader: Tarja CRONBERG
  • Seats won in this election: 15
  • Seats won in last election: 14
• Party: Christian Democrats in Finland (KD)
  • Leader: Paivi RASANEN
  • Seats won in this election: 7
  • Seats won in last election: 7
• Party: Swedish People's Party in Finland (SFP)
  • Leader: Stefan WALLIN
  • Seats won in this election: 9
  • Seats won in last election: 8
• Party: True Finns (PeruSS)
  • Leader: Timo SOINI
  • Seats won in this election: 5
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Party: Other Parties
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 1

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

Last Parliamentary election:

• Parliamentary elections were last held on 16 March 2003.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 5,288,720 (2007)
• Registered Voters: 4,083,549 (March 2007 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,697,874 (2007)

·         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: 84 (following the 2007 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: 793,308 (est.)