The 2015 General Elections in Finland

Season1 Episode 14 On The Election Trail with ‘Henna Rantasaari #135’ In this episode, I speak to Henna about the upcoming elections here in Finland. She explains how the political system works, how the Parliamentary seats are allocated and how the Government is formed. Guest: Henna Rantasaari, Green Party Candidate Listen to the show  on your … Continue reading The 2015 General Elections in Finland

Season1 Episode 14 On The Election Trail with

‘Henna Rantasaari #135’

In this episode, I speak to Henna about the upcoming elections here in Finland. She explains how the political system works, how the Parliamentary seats are allocated and how the Government is formed.
https://explorefinlandpodcast.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/episode-14-on-the-election-trail-with-henna-rantasaari.mp3

Guest: Henna Rantasaari, Green Party Candidate

Listen to the show  on your preferred podcast player  – iTunes or Stitcher radio or Feedburner

Download an MP3 file of this episode here

Show Notes

This week I was joined again by Henna Rantasaari, who is campaigning for a seat in the next Finnish Parliament, on behalf of Vihreat – De Gröna (the Green Party). Henna took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to me about the upcoming elections taking place on Sunday 19.4.2015, here in Finland.

In this episode, you can hear Henna and I talking about the various parties here in Finland; what they stand for, where they originated and where the sit on the political spectrum. Here are some of the main parties, you’ll find a complete list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Finland

National Coalition Party – Kansallinen Kokoomus
Social Democratic Party – Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue
The Finns Party – Perussuomalaiset (PS)
Centre Party – Suomen Keskusta
Left Alliance – Vasemmistoliitto
Green League – Vihreä liitto
Swedish People’s Party – Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue / Svenska folkpartiet i Finland
Christian Democrats – Suomen Kristillisdemokraatit

We also talked about the about the ‘proportional representation’ system of voting in use here in Finland. Each constituency region is allocated a number of parliamentary seats depending on the region’s population, and Henna tells how they calculate the number of seats each party wins.

Henna talks, briefly, about what issues the Green party in the Vaasa constituency is campaigning on, before explaining how the make up of the government will be decided when the votes are counted, and it’s decided who will be running the country for the next four years.

Henna’s Campaign Video

Big thanks (and good luck!) to Henna for taking time out of her busy schedule in the final two weeks leading up to the election here in Finland. If you want to learn more about her campaign then you can visit her website here http://www.hennarantasaari.fi/
Finnish Words in this Episode

Vaasanvalipiirin – Vaasa Constituency

The region in Western Finland that includes North Ostrobothnia, Ostrobothnia and South Ostrobothnia

Perustulo – Basic Income

The system of social security benefits, favoured by Vihreat – De Gröna, that encourages and rewards people that want to get back to work

Vaalit – Elections
Eduskunta – Parliament

Links

Finnish Elections official site (in English) http://www.vaalit.fi/en/index.html
Henna Rantasaari http://www.hennarantasaari.fi/
Parliament of Finland official site (in English) http://web.eduskunta.fi/Resource.phx/parliament/index.htx

Next episode S.1 Ep.15 – International Students Studying in Finland, part 2 – Junyi, Betti & Miia Explain All