Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Saturday 20 January 2023

The people elect the president. Voting is easy. First round. Repeat.

The topic of the news week this time is the presidential election. A new president will soon be elected in Finland.

Election day is a week from now on Sunday. In the elections, we all get to participate in choosing a new president.

Now we will tell you more about the presidential election and voting.

The people elect the president

There are 9 candidates in the presidential election. Photo: Photos: Jani Aarnio / Yle, Ari Haimakainen / Yle, Petteri Bülow / Yle, Grigory Vorobyev / Yle, Silja Viitala / Yle, Henrietta Hassinen / Yle, Antti Haanpää / Yle, Minna Rosvall / Yle, graphics: Hilppa Hyrkäs / Yle , photo collage: Miku Huttunen / Yle

In Finland, we all choose the decision-makers together. So Finland is a democratic country.

The president is elected every 6 years. This time there are 9 candidates. The candidates are 6 men and 3 women.

Candidates are candidates of parties or voter associations.

Ordinary people can form a voter association to support a candidate in the presidential election.

The presidential candidates travel around Finland. All the candidates want to tell people why he will be a good president.

Voting is easy

Ballot box. Photo: Pertti Huotari / Yle

In Finland, all adults can vote in presidential elections.

However, no one needs to tell others who to vote for. There is an election secret in Finland.

Voting at polling stations is easy.

More instructions can be found in the plain-language brochure that the Ministry of Justice has made with Selkokeskus.

The brochure can be found at selkokeskus.fi.

First round

The presidential palace is the president’s workplace. Photo: Pekka Tynell / YLE

It will soon become clear who will be the new president of Finland. The first voting round of the presidential election is a week from now on Sunday.

The president is already clear if one of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the votes.

If none of the candidates gets enough votes in the first round of voting, a second round is required.

Only the 2 most popular candidates make it to the second round.

Repeat

This time the topic has been the presidential election. Let’s repeat the most important things.

There are presidential elections in Finland soon.

All adult citizens are allowed to vote.

The new president is the one that more than half of the voters support.

This was News Week in clear Finnish See you again, by the way!