Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 9.3.2025

Party support in municipal and regional elections

Yle party support survey

The topic of the news week is party support in municipal and regional elections.

Yle has asked Finns which party they support in the municipal and regional elections.

Municipal and regional elections are held on the same day in April.

We will now report on the results of the Yle survey.

The most popular parties in the municipal elections are the Social Democratic Party, the National Coalition Party, the Center Party and the Finns Party. Photo: Silja Viitala / Yle, Mimmi Nietula / Yle and Petteri Sopanen / Yle, graphics: Eetu Pietarinen / Yle

The most popular party in municipal and regional elections is the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The SDP’s municipal election support is approximately 21 percent and the regional election support is approximately 22 percent.

The SDP’s popularity has increased since the previous municipal elections.

The SDP is an opposition party, meaning it is not in the government.

Coalition Party

The second most popular party in municipal and regional elections is the National Coalition Party.

The Coalition Party’s support is almost 20 percent in both elections. The Coalition Party’s popularity has decreased slightly since the previous municipal elections.

The National Coalition Party is the governing party and the Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is also from the National Coalition Party.

The poll was conducted for Yle by the research firm Taloustutkimus.

Research director Tuomo Turja says that undecided voters are thinking more carefully than before about which party they will vote for.

That is why the SDP and the Coalition Party are losing votes to small parties and small groups.

Downtown

The third most popular party in municipal and regional elections is the Centre Party.

The Center’s municipal election support is over 15 percent and regional election support is over 19 percent.

The Center Party is an opposition party, meaning it is not in government.

Support for the Center Party has increased slightly since the previous municipal elections.

Research director Tuomo Turja says that supporters of the National Coalition Party and the Finns Party in particular have switched to supporting the center.

Finns Party

The fourth most popular party in municipal and regional elections is the Finns Party. The Finns Party is the governing party.

Support for the Finns Party is now just under 13 percent in municipal elections and just under 11 percent in regional elections.

Support for the Finns Party has decreased since the previous municipal elections.

Smaller parties

Among the smaller parties, support for both the Left Alliance and the Greens has decreased slightly.

Support for the Finnish Communist Party, the Christian Democrats, the New Movement and other parties has grown.

In the April elections, representatives will be elected to both municipal and regional councils. Municipal councils decide on municipal matters and regional councils decide on welfare area matters. (The picture shows the Pirkanmaa welfare area regional council meeting in December.) Photo: Jani Aarnio / Yle

Repetition

The topic of this week’s news was party support in the municipal and regional elections. Both elections will be held at the same time on Sunday, April 13.

Research director Tuomo Turja estimates that the Social Democratic Party or the National Coalition Party will emerge as the largest party in the municipal and regional elections. The Center Party may come in third.

In regional elections, the center could even come in second place.

You can find out about the election candidates on Yle’s election machine on the Yle website.