2025 Finnish municipal elections

The 2025 Finnish municipal elections were held on 13 April 2025, the same day as the county elections. On that day, the representatives for the 308 municipal councils were elected.

Background

A poll by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities suggested that 80 percent of people in Finland planned to vote in the 2025 elections.

Electoral system

The right to vote in municipal elections is determined by the municipality in which a person is registered fifty-one days before the election. In addition, they must be at least 18 years old by election day and meet one of the following conditions:

Finnish citizen
Citizen of another EU member state, Norway or Iceland, who has a resides in a municipality of Finland
Citizen of a country other than the above who has had a continuous residence in a municipality of Finland for at least 2 years (i.e. 51 days before election day)
Employed by an EU or international organisation operating in Finland and residing in a municipality of Finland on the 51st day before election day, provided that their information has been stored in the Finnish population data information system at their request and that they have notified the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in writing no later than the fifty-second day before election day that they wish to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming municipal elections.

Results

The center-left SDP saw major gains in the election, while the right-wing populist Finns Party saw major losses. It was reported that the Finns party lost votes due to its government support for austerity, while the voters of the center-right NCP approve of the government policy. This was the first time SDP topped the polls in municipal elections since the 2004 elections.

National results

Individual municipalities

Helsinki

In the capital city of Helsinki, the National Coalition narrowly managed to retain their top spot despite a dramatic increase in voting share for the SDP. The SDP managed to tie the National Coalition in seat number despite finishing with a slightly lower percentage of the vote.

Tampere

In the second largest city of Tampere, the SDP retained the top spot and increased its lead over second place National Coalition after a near-tie in the last election. The Finns Party lost almost half of their votes. As a function of their collapse all other major parties were able to increase their vote share.