The regional elections, also known as county elections where the regional council for each wellbeing services were elected took place yesterday January 23, 2022. The new kind of election which aims to reform the structure of social health care in other to guarantee equal access in the whole of Finland had a total of 10, 584 candidates who ran for the 21 wellbeing services areas.
The National Coalition Party won Finland’s first-ever county council elections on Sunday evening, as they topped the polls in a first-ever county council election marked by low turnout.
The Social Democrats and Centre Party came joint second with shy of 20 percent of voter support, while the Finns Party lagged far behind, in fourth spot, with 11.1 percent of votes. The Left Alliance came fifth, the Greens sixth, the Swedish People’s Party seventh and the Christian Democrats eighth in the election results. Movement Now finished ninth.
The turnout of the election was 47.5 percent, down from 55.1 percent in last year’s municipal elections. Obi- West Utchaychukwu, the publisher of Diaspora Glitz Magazine who was an election officer at ward 103, Pähkinärinteen Koulu in Vantaa, reported a low turn out at his ward. According to him, less than 700 votes were recorded on the voting day and little above 600 votes were recorded during the early voting period. Eligible voters in the area is close to 3,800 but only about 35 percent voters showed up, he stated.
In the election, eighty per cent of all candidates nominated by the parties were also candidates in the 2021 Municipal elections. The number of foreign-language speakers, that is, persons not speaking Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their native language, is clearly lower among the candidates than among persons entitled to vote. Slightly over six per cent of the persons entitled to vote are foreign-language speakers, while this is so for 2.2 per cent of the candidates. Among the parliamentary parties, the Green League (4.0%) and the Christian Democrats (3.4%) have most foreign-language speaking candidates.
Fewer candidates from African backgrounds took part in the election with many of them unable to clinch the top spot. Four candidates of African decent won the election. There were more than 50 candidates from African backgrounds during the municipal elections, less than half of the number ran for the county elections.
Former Turku City councillor Alas Ali, SDP, from Somalia was elected county councillor. He got a total votes of 569. His fellow compatriots, Roda Hassan, Greens, 202 votes was not elected and Muhiadin Hersi, 381 votes was placed on the reserve. Also in Turku, Dr Theresia Bilola, Greens, from Cameroon got 162 votes and was not elected.
In Vantaa, Muktar Osman, SDP, from Somalia was placed in the reserve with his 277 votes.
In Ostrobothnia, Kokkola city councillor Faisa Egge, Greens, who is a nurse and owns a company that takes care of the elderly was elected. In Vaasa, the Swedish People’s Party flag bearer and a current city councillor, Ramieza Mahdi was elected.
Full list of candidates from African backgrounds
1. Rita Kostama, Järvenpää city councillor, got 209 votes. Not elected, placed on reserve
2. Habiba Ali, Espoo, got 108 votes, not elected
3. Folayemi Vättö, Espoo, got 90 votes, not elected
4. Alas Ali, Turku, got 569 votes, elected
5 Roda Hassan, Turku, got 202 votes, not elected
6. Dr Theresia Bilola, Turku, got 162 votes, not elected
7. Faisa Egge, Kokkola, got 142 votes, elected
8. Muktar Osman, Vantaa, got 277 votes.
Not elected, placed on reserve
9. Georgiana Forsang, Vantaa. Got 133 votes, not elected
10. Samson Tanke Aba, Vantaa. Got 57 votes, not elected
11. Porelela Diafouka, Vantaa. Got 26 votes, not elected
12. Simon Ekpa, Lahti. Got 47 votes, not elected.
13. Ramieza Mahdi, Vaasa. Got 465 votes, elected
14. Antonio Teca, Vaasa. Got 80 votes, not elected.
15. Adwoa Brewu, Espoo. Got 34 votes, not elected
16. Muhiadin Hersi, Turku. Got 381votes. Not elected, placed on reserve
17. Jamal Awad, Oulu. Got 99 votes, not elected
18. Naima El Issaoui, Vantaa city councillor. Got 277 votes, not elected, placed on reserve
19. Danisa Zinhu, Lappeenranta. Got 74 votes, not elected
20. Bella Forsgren, Jyväskylä. Got 1,227 votes, elected
21. Tracy Mantan, Jyväskylä. Got 48 votes, not elected
