Electoral districts of Finland

There are 13 electoral districts for elections to the Finnish Parliament.[1] Each electoral district elects a number of MPs proportional to its population, currently ranging from 6 to 35 MPs, except Åland which only elects one.

Boundaries

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The boundaries of the electoral districts are based on the provinces in use from 1634 to 1997, and have remained largely the same since the first parliamentary election in 1907. Some minor border changes between the regions of Finland have affected the electoral districts, but there have also been larger changes, detailed below.

In 1939, the electoral district of Oulu Province North was divided between the electoral districts of Lapland Province and Oulu Province, and the electoral district of Oulu Province South was renamed to Oulu Province. After the Continuation War, the electoral districts of Eastern and Western Viipuri, which lost much of their territories to the Soviet Union, were united into the new electoral district of Kymi. At the same time, Åland became a distinct electoral district. In 1954, Helsinki City was cut from the electoral district of Uusimaa Province. In 1962, the southern and northern Vaasa electoral districts were united. In 2015, the electoral districts of Kymi and South Savo were united, forming the electoral district of Southeast Finland; similarly, the electoral districts of North Savo and North Karelia were united to form the electoral district of Savo-Karelia.

Electoral districts

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The number of seats per electoral district are based on the 2015 parliamentary election.

 
Map of Finland's electoral districts
Electoral district Seats[2] Population[3]
01 Helsinki 22 635,433
02 Uusimaa 36 1,002,137
03 Varsinais-Suomi 17 475,559
04 Satakunta 8 221,752
05 Åland 1 29,179
06 Häme 14 375,540
07 Pirkanmaa 19 509,309
08 Southeast Finland 17 457,336
09 Savo-Karelia 15 412,131
10 Vaasa 16 442,495
11 Central Finland 10 276,265
12 Oulu 18 485,980
13 Lapland 7 180,231
Total 200 5,503,347

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Members of Parliament".
  2. ^ Arter, David (25 January 2021). "'It's a Long Way from Kuusamo to Kuhmo': Mapping Candidates' Electoral Constituencies in the Finnish Open-List Single Preference Voting System". Political Studies Review. 19: 7. doi:10.1177/1478929920982509 – via ResearchGate.
  3. ^ 2016 population figures per region. Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases[permanent dead link]
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