title: 2012 Finnish municipal elections
text: # 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:
  
  | Population | Number of councilmen |
  | - | - |
  | under 2,000 | 13, 15 or 17 |
  | 2,001–4,000 | 21 |
  | 4,001–8,000 | 27 |
  | 8,001–15,000 | 35 |
  | 15,001–30,000 | 43 |
  | 30,001–60,000 | 51 |
  | 60,001–120,000 | 59 |
  | 120,001–250,000 | 67 |
  | 250,001–400,000 | 75 |
  | over 400,000 | 85 |
  
  Helsinki is the only city in the last category and Espoo the only city in the second-to-last category.
  
  ## National results
  
  | Party | Party | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Council seats | Council seats |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Party | Party | Number | % | Swing (2008) | Swing (2011) | Number | Net ± |
  | | National Coalition | 545,889 | 21.9% | −1.6pp | +1.5pp | 1,735 | −286 |
  | | SDP | 487,924 | 19.6% | −1.7pp | +0.5pp | 1,729 | −337 |
  | | Centre | 465,166 | 18.7% | −1.4pp | +2.9pp | 3,077 | −440 |
  | | Finns | 307,797 | 12.3% | +7.0pp | −6.7pp | 1,195 | +752 |
  | | VIHR | 213,100 | 8.5% | −0.4pp | +1.3pp | 323 | −47 |
  | | Left Alliance | 199,615 | 8.0% | −0.8pp | −0.1pp | 640 | −193 |
  | | RKP | 117,865 | 4.7% | ±0.0pp | +0.4pp | 480 | −30 |
  | | KD | 93,257 | 3.7% | −0.4pp | −0.3pp | 300 | −51 |
  | | Communist Party | 11,174 | 0.4% | −0.1pp | +0.1pp | 9 | ±0 |
  | | Pirate | 5,986 | 0.2% | New | −0.3pp | 0 | ±0 |
  | | Independence Party | 1,303 | 0.1% | ±0.0pp | −0.1pp | 0 | −2 |
  | | Change 2011 | 1,258 | 0.1% | New | −0.2pp | 1 | +1 |
  | | Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism | 704 | <0.1% | <0.1pp | <0.1pp | 0 | ±0 |
  | | For the Poor | 572 | <0.1% | <0.1pp | <0.1pp | 0 | ±0 |
  | | Workers Party | 538 | <0.1% | <0.1pp | <0.1pp | 0 | ±0 |
  | | Freedom Party | 15 | <0.1% | New | <0.1pp | 0 | ±0 |
  | | Others | 41,358 | 1.7% | −0.8pp | +1.3pp | 185 | −102 |
  | Total | Total | 2,493,521 | | | | 9,674 | −738 |
  
  Turnout was 58.3%, lower than in the previous municipal election.
  
  