2012 Finnish municipal elections

Municipal elections were held in Finland on 28 October 2012, with advance voting between 17 and 23 October 2012. 9,674 municipal council seats were open for election in 304 municipalities. The number of councillors decreased by over 700 compared to the previous election due to the merging of several municipalities. The term of the elected councillors will begin on 1 January 2013.

Funds
In Finland, candidates have to declare their campaign funding. 15% of the declarations did not arrive in time.

Competing parties

 * Centre Party
 * National Coalition Party (NCP)
 * Social Democratic Party (SDP)
 * True Finns
 * Green League
 * Left Alliance
 * Swedish People's Party (SPP)
 * Christian Democrats
 * Pirate Party
 * Communist Party
 * Change 2011
 * Independence Party
 * Workers Party
 * Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism
 * For the Poor
 * Freedom Party

Electoral method
The D'Hondt method is used in the election. The size of the municipal council or city council depends on the population of the municipality:

Helsinki is the only city in the last category and Espoo the only city in the second-to-last category.

National results


Turnout was 58.3%, lower than in the previous municipal election.