Did you know that most probably also You can vote in the Finnish elections? In this blog article you can read easily how in practice! Espoo City (+other Finnish towns) and the regional county elections will be held in Finland on Sunday 13 April 2025.
I’m a candidate for Espoo city council and Western Uusimaa region’s ’Wellbeing Services County’ council.
Here you can find information on the county and municipal elections, voting instructions for both 2 elections in English (and links to info in other foreign languages), and some basic facts about myself. 🙂
First, a few short quotes from my ex-colleagues when I was leading global listed corporations:
Would I be your best candidate in the Espoo City and Western Uusimaa regional county elections? Great!
Some basic information on me:
I live in Leppävaara (Perkkaa) with my partner Antti Sutinen who is also running for the Espoo city council. We both represent Kokoomus party which leads the Government in the parliament of Finland.
Also you can join Kokoomus in Espoo or wherever you live in Finland. Antti and I are members in Leppävaara Kokoomus because we live here in Leppävaara, Espoo. When you want to join Kokoomus, please just send me a message e.g. on Instagram (IG username: katiniemicom). Happy to have you join our meetings and making our dear home city Espoo even better!
I’m from the liberal and slightly right ”economics wing” of Kokoomus. The Finnish media company YLE presented me on their candidate map like shown below in the graph (Liberal = Liberaali; Right = Oikeisto):
We both work as coaches: Antti is the head of a football club, whereas I’m a personal life coach, therapist, and leadership/executive coach.
I have 20+ years of background in business leadership in global listed corporations (e.g. as CPA, CFO and Vice President) where I lead multinational professional teams all over the world, before I started my own coaching business as an entrepreneur.
I have 3 boys, two of them are already young adults and the youngest son will be 17 years old next week. 🙂 Antti has 2 sons, pretty much of the same ages as my sons.
Our sons live with us every other week, so Antti and I both have nowadays well enough time to focus on Espoo city and Uusimaa region topics. 🙂
In Espoo and Uusimaa, my focus topics are Health & Holistic wellbeing, better Worklife & Entrepreneurship, and Safety at schools and in the streets. Due to my corporate governance background, I value statistics and strategic leadership for economic growth.
My meta values are Freedom, Joy, Love, Sustainability, and Courage. I live and lead very strongly by my inner values.
I always look on the bright side of life and see possibilities positively especially amid crises and challenging times.
I’ve learnt that my superpower is that I tend to spark the more energy the more it is needed.
So, let’s see how it would be in the politics then with this combination of strong values and positive ’Can Do’ energy! Thank you for supporting me in this journey. 🙂
Espoo City and regional elections are held only every 4 years, so please use Your right to vote now!
Under the Constitution of Finland (731/1999), Finland is divided into autonomous municipalities (e.g. Espoo City) and counties (e.g. Uusimaa) providing all basic services (e.g. daycare, schools, infrastructure, health & social services) for its residents.
When you live in Espoo, you can vote in:
1) Espoo City municipal election i.e. in Finnish ”Kuntavaalit” (e.g. daycare, schools, infrastructure etc) and
2) Western Uusimaa county election (”Aluevaalit”) where also Espoo City belongs to (health, social and rescue service for all Espoo residents).
Our county’s (Western Uusimaa = ”Länsi-Uusimaa”) wellbeing area (”hyvinvointialue”) includes also Espoo’s neighboring municipalities to the West e.g. Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi. Helsinki and Vantaa have their own elections with their local candidates.
We candidates, Antti and I, are now running to be elected to the Espoo City council, and I am also a candidate for the Western Uusimaa region’s county council.
These councils exercise the highest decision-making power in their areas. That’s why these elections are very important: the people who are elected can truly make a difference for a better future in Espoo and Uusimaa.
Voting rights of foreigners living in Espoo, Finland: Who can vote in these elections? (even if you are not a Finnish citizen)
Who is entitled to vote in the county and municipal elections even if you are not a Finnish citizen?
- You are 18 years old at the latest on the election day (13 April 2025).
- You have lived in Finland (Municipality of Residence Act 210/1994) as follows:
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- A citizen of an EU country, Iceland or Norway must have had a Finnish residence by 21 February 2025.
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- Citizens of other countries must have had a municipality of residence in Finland for at least 2 years by 21 February 2025.
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency holds a voting register including all persons entitled to vote in county elections (e.g. Western Uusimaa wellbeing area’s council) and municipal elections (e.g. Espoo City council).
Voting on election day (Sunday 13 April 2025) in Espoo
On Sunday 13 April 2025, voting will take place between 9 am and 8 pm. On this final official election day, you can only vote at the polling station that has been listed on the notification of the right to vote sent to you.
Each candidate has their own candidate number per election. When the person is a candidate in both municipal and county elections (like me in Espoo + Western Uusimaa), they have different candidate numbers for the city election (the white voting slip: my number for Espoo City is 367), and for the county election (the purple voting slip: my number for Western Uusimaa is 2285).
The candidate number lists posted on the voting booth wall are printed in very small text, so it’s a good idea to write down my different numbers for both elections in advance.
Please write only the number for the specific election (no text) because otherwise your vote will be rejected:
- WHITE paper (Espoo City) 367
- PURPLE paper (Western Uusimaa) 2285
Thank you for remembering to mark the horizontal line through the number seven in my Espoo City election number (367), so your valuable vote won’t be misread as the number one and then would be invalidated due to ambiguity.
More information about the Espoo City (+other Finnish municipalities) and Western Uusimaa County Elections in many languages:
For more information about the County and Municipal Elections in Finland, please read the detailed foreign language instructions here e.g. in Ukrainian (українська), Estonian (eesti), Somali (soomaali), Arabic (عربية), Farsi (فارسی), Turkish (Türkçe), Thai (ไทย), Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt), Nepali (नेपाली), Russian (русский / Russian), Chinese (汉语 / Chinese), German (Deutsch), French (Français), Spanish (Español), Italian (italiano), Polish (polski), Romanian (română), Albanian (shqip), Bengali (বাংলা), Dari (دری), Sorani (سۆرانی / كوردي), and Tagalog (Tagalog).
You can find more info also on www.vaalit.fi/en or by asking the election officials at your local polling station in Espoo.
Let’s now celebrate the Finnish democracy and Your valuable freedom to vote in Espoo on Sunday, 13 April 2025!
Kati Niemi from Leppävaara, Espoo
Candidate for Espoo City council: 367
Candidate for Western Uusimaa county council: 2285
P.S. You can read about my several educations and career background here (easily with a Google translator from Finnish to English) or please come join me at Kokoomus campaign areas e.g. in the local market area Läkkitori near Leppävaara railway station and Sello/Galleria shopping centers. I love meeting new people and chat in English! (I’ve studied also many other languages but am not skilled in most of them anymore, sorry)
