Almost 6,500 business owners standing in local elections, 500 more than last time

Almost 6,500 business owners are standing in the local elections. This is almost 500 more than in the previous local elections. The National Coalition Party is running the most business owner candidates.

Petri Salminen, Chairperson of Suomen Yrittäjät, is satisfied with the number of business owner candidates.

“It’s great that the number of business owner candidates has clearly risen, and that a lot of them are standing for election. Business owners are a significant group of candidates in almost every party. That will be a good thing for the municipalities,” Salminen says.

Salminen says that people should vote for business owners for many reasons.

“A business owner knows what makes their municipality vibrant, and how the municipality can influence the availability of skilled labour and businesses’ abilities to succeed.”

At present, the different parties are running 6,484 candidates who are business owners for election. Almost 6,000 business owner candidates stood in the last local elections, meaning the increase at these elections is nine per cent. Business owners make up 18.2% of all candidates, which is slightly more than in the previous elections (17.7%).

Four years ago, the candidates elected included over 2,000 business owners — around 23% of all new councillors.

National Coalition Party has most business owner candidates

The National Coalition Party has the most business owner candidates, the Centre Party has the second most, and the Finns Party has the third most. As recently as the last elections the Centre Party had the most business owner candidates. The party whose number of business owner candidates has increased the most is the Finns Party, which has 401 more such candidates than four years ago.

Number of business owner candidates (number in 2017 elections in brackets):

National Coalition Party 1,797 (1,726)
Centre Party 1,670 (1,982)
Finns Party 1,106 (705)
Green Party 385 (295)
Social Democratic Party 364 (424)
Christian Democrats 241 (256)
Swedish People’s Party 234 (180)
Liike Nyt 174 (did not stand at last elections)
Left League 174 (157)
Others, total 339 (222)

Distribution of business owner candidates by party (rounded to nearest whole percentage, figures for 2017 elections in brackets):

National Coalition Party 28% (29%)
Centre Party 26% (33%)
Finns Party 17% (12%)
Green Party 6% (5%)
Social Democratic Party 6% (7%)
Christian Democrats 4% (4%)
Swedish People’s Party 4% (3%)
Liike Nyt 3% (did not stand at last elections)
Left League 3% (3%)
Others, total 5% (4%)

Liike Nyt has highest share of business owner candidates

Looking at the share of business owner candidates of each political party’s candidates as a whole, Liike Nyt is the clear leader. The party did not yet exist at the time of the 2017 elections. The Greens’ share of business owner candidates increased the most.

Share of business owner candidates of each party’s candidates (rounded to nearest whole percentage, figures for 2017 elections in brackets):

Liike Nyt 37% (did not stand at last elections)
National Coalition Party 30% (29%)
Centre Party 24% (27%)
Finns Party 19% (18%)
Green Party 14% (5%)
Social Democratic Party 6% (7%)
Christian Democrats 12% (13%)
Swedish People’s Party 17% (14%)
Left League 6% (5%)

Advance voting for the local elections begins on Wednesday 26 May and election day is Sunday 13 June.

Further information:

10 most important issues for business owners in the local elections
Suomen Yrittäjät local election pages: Ei kuntaa ilman yrityksiä (in Finnish)

toimitus (at) yrittajat.fi