Advance voting in the parliamentary elections - 41,127 persons voted abroad

In this year’s parliamentary elections, a total of 41,127 eligible voters used their right to vote abroad. Of these, 40,914 persons voted in Finnish missions abroad during the advance voting period, while 213 Finnish crew members cast their advance votes on board ships.

Photo: Heta Melantie

The number of advance voters grew by about 5,600 compared to the parliamentary elections held in 2015, when 35,521 advance votes were cast abroad.  This year, advance voting was possible at 219 polling stations in 86 countries. In addition to that, certain Finnish ships organised advance voting on board the vessel. 

According to the Population Register Centre, approximately 255,000 persons with a permanent residence abroad were eligible to vote in this year’s parliamentary elections. In addition, eligible voters staying abroad on a temporary basis had the right to vote in the missions.

This year, eligible voters permanently or temporarily residing abroad or staying abroad on the election day had a chance to vote by post for the first time ever. The number of postal votes cast is not yet available. The Ministry of Justice was responsible for the organisation of the postal voting.

Like before, the voter turnout was the highest in Sweden, where 9,873 votes were cast in advance. The voter turnout was the second highest in Spain with 7,214 voters, followed by the UK with 2,494, Germany with 1,981 and the USA with 1,950 voters.

Stockholm was the busiest polling station abroad with 3,847 voters (2,955 in the 2015 elections), followed by Fuengirola with 3,650 voters (2,662 in the 2015 elections). London came third with 1,644 voters (1,406 in the 2015 elections).

Inquiries: Leena Ritola, Director of the Passport Unit, tel. +358 295 351 524 

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the [email protected]