Interesting, that sounds much more like the sort of thing they’d do today rather than in the 1960s. Although maybe that’s my perspective being skewed by the Swedish government’s view at the time, which was pretty extreme in its disregard for any form of rail transport that wasn’t fully grade-separated.
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Max's election maps and assorted others
- Thread starter Ares96
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Japanese Imperial Diet in the Meiji era?
msmp
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"Something to do with Japan" is all I got, and like @Alex Richards I'm assuming it's historical because that doesn't line up with any modern Diet constituency borders I'm aware of!
You're both correct, it's the 1890 election. Whose boundaries are all described on Japanese Wikipedia, which somehow also has a fairly comprehensive set of village maps from the era (although they're very annoying because they're district by district and mostly but not all to scale within each prefecture).
To return to the Finland map for a bit, I figured out that Fenn-O-maniC's map of the ceded territories in Karelia matches the projection of this pretty well. So I've made a decent bit of progress, although it's patchy in areas because none of the map series I'm going off of cover the entire country. Also, some of the town boundaries are guesswork, specifically those of Lahti, Borgå, Lovisa and Viborg.
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Yet another new thing: an attempt to draw single-member constituencies for the last Finnish election. Unfortunately, the spreadsheets their election office provides are dogshit, so I haven't been able to get actual poll-by-poll results for this and the colours on the map are pure guesswork based on what the maps by municipality look like to me.
Oulu (17 constituencies, quota 21,940)
177: Oulu Centre (Oulu-Keskusta, Uleåborg-Centrum)
20,068 (-1,872)
What it says on the tin - Oulu's old urban grid and the immediate surrounds, most of which is the industrial harbour. Some of the areas near the harbour are left-leaning, but overall this seat is probably quite safe for the Coalition - the most so of any seat in northern Finland.
178: Oulu-Kaukovainio
21,108 (-832)
The bulk of this seat is post-war housing estates, which vary in density from small detached houses in Karjasilta and Nokela to flat blocks in the neighbourhood that gives it its name. In the old days this would've likely been a good seat for the Left, but we live in hell, so in 2023 it's a tight three-way race between SDP, Coalition and Finns.
179: Oulunsuu-Kaakkuri
17,968 (-3,972)
This is a geographically awkward seat, nearly surrounding #178 and being separated into two halves by a thick forest, but all the areas around it were too homogenous to mess with, and also the two areas aren't that distinct, they're both middle-class areas with largely detached housing. This would likely have been a Centre-Coalition marginal until 2019, but in this election all the Centre voters went over to the Finns - though I suspect not quite enough to win it.
180: Oulu-Tuira
23,348 (+1,408)
This seat covers areas across the river delta from the city centre, which used to be largely working-class and left-leaning, but new housing developments along the riverfront have brought in a lot of Coalition voters, which I suspect would make this seat reasonably safe for them.
181: Oulu-Rajakylä
26,123 (+4,183)
Here's another largely working-class seat, although once again with some variation, notably in the form of the main campus of Oulu University. Aside from the student population, the bulk of the seat trends strongly toward the Finns, giving them what I suspect would be their only seat in the city proper.
182: Oulu-Haapalehto
18,605 (-3,335)
Oulu proper's final seat, like its neighbour to the south, is largely middle-class and suburban in character. Not much to say except that the Coalition likely have a reasonably good hold on it, they won most of its polling areas both in 2012 and 2021.
183: Kiiminki-Pudasjärvi
19,936 (-2,004)
Even though Kiiminki is now part of Oulu municipality, this is still a solidly rural-exurban seat, and like most such areas in the north of Finland, it's a Centre stronghold.
184: Haukipudas-Ii
21,983 (+43)
Very similar to #183 in that it includes both exurban parts of Oulu proper and a rural municipality, different from it in that Haukipudas has some serious post-industrial malaise going on, and as such votes strongly for the Finns.
185: Kempele-Oulunsalo
21,542 (-398)
See #184. Hailuoto is in this constituency because its ferry runs from Oulunsalo.
186: Raahe (Brahestad)
23,465 (+1,525)
Raahe is home to Finland's largest steel mill, and this made it a leftist stronghold for decades, but in 2023 it would likely have been a tight race between the Centre and Finns. I suspect the latter would prevail, but it's basically a tossup.
187: Pyhäjoki
20,535 (-1,405)
This is an extremely rural seat, and as such, the Centre majority is unassailable.
188: Kalajoki-Ylivieska
22,682 (+742)
Another deceptively awkward seat as it contains two towns of roughly equal size and not much else. Other than that, not much of note going on here - it's another safe-ish Centre seat.
189: Haapajärvi
22,041 (+101)
This covers the upper Kalajoki valley, and like #188 has two towns (Nivala and Haapajärvi) which are more or less alike in dignity. I nevertheless named it for Haapajärvi because it's more central. As before, safe Centre.
190: Oulu Valley (Oulunlaakso, Uleådalen)
22,670 (+730)
A very mixed seat that covers both some Oulu exurbs and a big swath of forest and moorland to its east - basically everything between Oulu and Kajaani. It's not enough to make it politically interesting though - yet another safe Centre seat.
191: Kajaani (Kajana)
27,101 (+5,161)
Kajaani is very similar to Raahe, it's a post-industrial city that used to vote for the Left and now votes for the Finns. Real Thuringian vibes in this part of Finland sometimes.
192: Kainuu (Kajanaland)
22,326 (+386)
This is a deceptively-named seat, as it doesn't cover all of its namesake region, although it does cover the bulk of it. The biggest villages, Vuokatti and Kuhmo, are both in the southern part of the seat, while the north is a lot emptier. Safe Centre seat once again.
193: Koillismaa
21,485 (-455)
The final seat in the Oulu region covers its northeast corner, which is mainly known for outdoor tourism and logging. Based on this, you won't be surprised to hear it's yet another safe Centre seat.
Lapland (7 constituencies, quota 22,786)
194: Rovaniemi
25,372 (+2,586)
I was surprised by how big Rovaniemi apparently is, the municipality is nearly big enough for three constituencies all on its own. That's not the path I took though, it would've made the surrounding seats too awkward, so to begin with here's the centre of the city. Likely an SDP-Finns marginal, I painted it (and #178) red largely because it would've looked too depressing otherwise.
195: Rovaniemi North and Kemijärvi (Pohjois-Rovaniemi ja Kemijärvi)
23,293 (+507)
This is the seat that includes the biggest chunk of Rovaniemi suburbs, most of which vote for the Finns, so even though Kemijärvi came out for the Centre, I don't think that was enough to offset it.
196: Kemi Valley (Keminlaakso, Kemidalen)
24,459 (+1,673)
A few more outlying parts of Rovaniemi are joined with the entire southern tier of Lapland to create this seat, which is most likely quite safe for the Centre - although nowhere near as much so as it would've been before 2011.
197: Kemi
24,440 (+1,654)
Kemi is another one of those post-industrial regional towns northern Finland loves, and while the city proper (a longtime Left stronghold) voted narrowly for the SDP, Keminmaa voted for the Finns by enough of a margin that I think it would offset that.
198: Tornio (Torneå)
19,535 (-3,251)
The border city of Tornio is, it seems, one of few regional torns in the north of Finland that isn't dying, largely because of the cross-border trade with Sweden. It carried on voting Centre as it's always done.
199: Tornio Valley (Tornionlaakso, Tornedalen)
21,609 (-1,177)
This seat basically follows the border with Sweden, and includes some of the main Finnish ski regions as well as the line of small towns along the Tornio River itself. I suspect it would've gone to the Finns in 2023, although it would be marginal.
200: Northern Lapland (Pohjois-Lappi, Norra Lappland)
19,565 (-3,221)
Finally, the largest seat in Finland by surface area (unless something really weird happens further south, but I strongly doubt that), which includes the bulk of the Sami service area as well as a number of national parks. Safe enough for the Centre, although Inari did vote for the Finns and Utsjoki went a little bit weird due to the presence of a Sami candidate who ran for the Swedish People's Party of all things.
Total seats (Northern Finland)
Centre 10
Finns 8
Coalition 4
SDP 2
Oulu (17 constituencies, quota 21,940)
177: Oulu Centre (Oulu-Keskusta, Uleåborg-Centrum)
20,068 (-1,872)
What it says on the tin - Oulu's old urban grid and the immediate surrounds, most of which is the industrial harbour. Some of the areas near the harbour are left-leaning, but overall this seat is probably quite safe for the Coalition - the most so of any seat in northern Finland.
178: Oulu-Kaukovainio
21,108 (-832)
The bulk of this seat is post-war housing estates, which vary in density from small detached houses in Karjasilta and Nokela to flat blocks in the neighbourhood that gives it its name. In the old days this would've likely been a good seat for the Left, but we live in hell, so in 2023 it's a tight three-way race between SDP, Coalition and Finns.
179: Oulunsuu-Kaakkuri
17,968 (-3,972)
This is a geographically awkward seat, nearly surrounding #178 and being separated into two halves by a thick forest, but all the areas around it were too homogenous to mess with, and also the two areas aren't that distinct, they're both middle-class areas with largely detached housing. This would likely have been a Centre-Coalition marginal until 2019, but in this election all the Centre voters went over to the Finns - though I suspect not quite enough to win it.
180: Oulu-Tuira
23,348 (+1,408)
This seat covers areas across the river delta from the city centre, which used to be largely working-class and left-leaning, but new housing developments along the riverfront have brought in a lot of Coalition voters, which I suspect would make this seat reasonably safe for them.
181: Oulu-Rajakylä
26,123 (+4,183)
Here's another largely working-class seat, although once again with some variation, notably in the form of the main campus of Oulu University. Aside from the student population, the bulk of the seat trends strongly toward the Finns, giving them what I suspect would be their only seat in the city proper.
182: Oulu-Haapalehto
18,605 (-3,335)
Oulu proper's final seat, like its neighbour to the south, is largely middle-class and suburban in character. Not much to say except that the Coalition likely have a reasonably good hold on it, they won most of its polling areas both in 2012 and 2021.
183: Kiiminki-Pudasjärvi
19,936 (-2,004)
Even though Kiiminki is now part of Oulu municipality, this is still a solidly rural-exurban seat, and like most such areas in the north of Finland, it's a Centre stronghold.
184: Haukipudas-Ii
21,983 (+43)
Very similar to #183 in that it includes both exurban parts of Oulu proper and a rural municipality, different from it in that Haukipudas has some serious post-industrial malaise going on, and as such votes strongly for the Finns.
185: Kempele-Oulunsalo
21,542 (-398)
See #184. Hailuoto is in this constituency because its ferry runs from Oulunsalo.
186: Raahe (Brahestad)
23,465 (+1,525)
Raahe is home to Finland's largest steel mill, and this made it a leftist stronghold for decades, but in 2023 it would likely have been a tight race between the Centre and Finns. I suspect the latter would prevail, but it's basically a tossup.
187: Pyhäjoki
20,535 (-1,405)
This is an extremely rural seat, and as such, the Centre majority is unassailable.
188: Kalajoki-Ylivieska
22,682 (+742)
Another deceptively awkward seat as it contains two towns of roughly equal size and not much else. Other than that, not much of note going on here - it's another safe-ish Centre seat.
189: Haapajärvi
22,041 (+101)
This covers the upper Kalajoki valley, and like #188 has two towns (Nivala and Haapajärvi) which are more or less alike in dignity. I nevertheless named it for Haapajärvi because it's more central. As before, safe Centre.
190: Oulu Valley (Oulunlaakso, Uleådalen)
22,670 (+730)
A very mixed seat that covers both some Oulu exurbs and a big swath of forest and moorland to its east - basically everything between Oulu and Kajaani. It's not enough to make it politically interesting though - yet another safe Centre seat.
191: Kajaani (Kajana)
27,101 (+5,161)
Kajaani is very similar to Raahe, it's a post-industrial city that used to vote for the Left and now votes for the Finns. Real Thuringian vibes in this part of Finland sometimes.
192: Kainuu (Kajanaland)
22,326 (+386)
This is a deceptively-named seat, as it doesn't cover all of its namesake region, although it does cover the bulk of it. The biggest villages, Vuokatti and Kuhmo, are both in the southern part of the seat, while the north is a lot emptier. Safe Centre seat once again.
193: Koillismaa
21,485 (-455)
The final seat in the Oulu region covers its northeast corner, which is mainly known for outdoor tourism and logging. Based on this, you won't be surprised to hear it's yet another safe Centre seat.
Lapland (7 constituencies, quota 22,786)
194: Rovaniemi
25,372 (+2,586)
I was surprised by how big Rovaniemi apparently is, the municipality is nearly big enough for three constituencies all on its own. That's not the path I took though, it would've made the surrounding seats too awkward, so to begin with here's the centre of the city. Likely an SDP-Finns marginal, I painted it (and #178) red largely because it would've looked too depressing otherwise.
195: Rovaniemi North and Kemijärvi (Pohjois-Rovaniemi ja Kemijärvi)
23,293 (+507)
This is the seat that includes the biggest chunk of Rovaniemi suburbs, most of which vote for the Finns, so even though Kemijärvi came out for the Centre, I don't think that was enough to offset it.
196: Kemi Valley (Keminlaakso, Kemidalen)
24,459 (+1,673)
A few more outlying parts of Rovaniemi are joined with the entire southern tier of Lapland to create this seat, which is most likely quite safe for the Centre - although nowhere near as much so as it would've been before 2011.
197: Kemi
24,440 (+1,654)
Kemi is another one of those post-industrial regional towns northern Finland loves, and while the city proper (a longtime Left stronghold) voted narrowly for the SDP, Keminmaa voted for the Finns by enough of a margin that I think it would offset that.
198: Tornio (Torneå)
19,535 (-3,251)
The border city of Tornio is, it seems, one of few regional torns in the north of Finland that isn't dying, largely because of the cross-border trade with Sweden. It carried on voting Centre as it's always done.
199: Tornio Valley (Tornionlaakso, Tornedalen)
21,609 (-1,177)
This seat basically follows the border with Sweden, and includes some of the main Finnish ski regions as well as the line of small towns along the Tornio River itself. I suspect it would've gone to the Finns in 2023, although it would be marginal.
200: Northern Lapland (Pohjois-Lappi, Norra Lappland)
19,565 (-3,221)
Finally, the largest seat in Finland by surface area (unless something really weird happens further south, but I strongly doubt that), which includes the bulk of the Sami service area as well as a number of national parks. Safe enough for the Centre, although Inari did vote for the Finns and Utsjoki went a little bit weird due to the presence of a Sami candidate who ran for the Swedish People's Party of all things.
Total seats (Northern Finland)
Centre 10
Finns 8
Coalition 4
SDP 2
msmp
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I know zero about Finnish politics, but as a minority party, does the SPP have some kind of limited but broader pan-minority appeal? Or is it just a case of That Guy liking the party?
I've never seen anything like it before, though it's worth noting I haven't looked at this granular a level before either. But I don't think the SFP have a history of trying to appeal to minorities other than the Swedes.
There's been a tendency for certain Sami politicians to join SPP, IIRC it dates back to 2011 when the then president of the Sami Parliament ran on SPP list. Since then there's always been handful of SPP candidates from Lapland and they hold couple of seats in municipal councils at Sami area. They also have Sami organization lead by the current president of Sami Parliament.
It sort of makes sense since Indigenous rights or at least more "radical" ones related to land use and ownership tend to be very unpopular among Lapland's Finnish population and are consequently opposed by local MPs. So unless Sami politicians want to run on a same list with people who are against the policies they are trying to advance its pretty much a choice between SPP and Greens.
That’s interesting, there’s a very similar dynamic with the Swedish Greens.
Continuing south with the rest of Ostrobothnia plus Central Finland.
Vaasa (15 constituencies, quota 22,258)
Some of the electorate sizes are a bit fucked here, which is mainly because I wanted to avoid crossing the language boundary. Seat names are consistently in the majority language, with the minority language in brackets after.
152: Vasa North (Pohjois-Vaasa, Vasa Norra)
19,718 (-2,540)
Vasa's northern suburbs, which this seat mainly covers (although it also dips south to take in half of the city centre), tend to be middle-class and have a higher proportion of Swedish speakers. As such, I see no difficulty for the SFP in this seat.
153: Vasa South (Etelä-Vaasa, Vasa Södra)
21,511 (-747)
By contrast, the south of Vasa is more Finnish (though there's still a sizeable Swedish minority, it's not like Belfast) and tends left-wing. Although the Finns put up a strong challenge this time around, I think the SDP would still eke out a win.
154: Korsholm (Mustasaari)
22,358 (+100)
The namesake municipality of this seat was formed in 1972 by merging all the Swedish-speaking rural municipalities around Vasa, which I imagine was partly done to resist the area's annexation by the majority-Finnish-speaking city. Its local economy doesn't function brilliantly, to say the least, but it guards its independence and Swedish-majority status fiercely, and with the addition of some outer suburbs from Vasa proper, it's big enough to form its own seat. Safe SFP, as you'd expect.
155: Närpes (Närpiö)
18,530 (-3,728)
The coast south of Vasa is famous for its well-preserved small towns and impenetrable dialects of Swedish, and based on this you won't be surprised to know this is another ultra-safe SFP seat - possibly the safest one in the entire country.
156: Kauhajoki
16,719 (-5,539)
Even though all but the namesake municipality in this seat have official Swedish names that actually sound Swedish and aren't just random respellings of the Finnish name, it is as monolithically Finnish-speaking as #155 is Swedish-speaking. In the past would've been safe for the Centre, but the Finns very likely make it over the top this time.
157: Laihia (Laihela)
19,489 (-2,769)
See what I mean about random respellings? Anyway, Laihia is most famous because its inhabitants are supposedly very stingy, and for being the home of Centre Party founder and ideologue Santeri Alkio. Despite this, the Finns outperformed the Centre here this time.
158: Kurikka
25,098 (+2,840)
The only notable thing I know about this constituency is that it's home to the Koskenkorva distillery. Like the rest of the area, it used to be safe for the Centre but now voted for the Finns by a pretty respectable margin.
159: Seinäjoki
27,380 (+5,122)
The railway town of Seinäjoki, which is known for its large number of Alvar Aalto-designed modernist buildings, is one of the most conservative cities in Finland. It would've traditionally been a Coalition seat, and they would probably eke out a narrow win over the Finns in 2023 as well.
160: Lapua (Lappo)
28,038 (+5,780)
To no one's surprise, the spiritual home of Finnish fascism voted for the Finns. Lapua would've been a Coalition seat for most of its history before that, and it would likely still be pretty narrow.
161: Alavus (Alavo)
24,589 (+2,331)
This seat covers an assortment of small towns and villages largely surrounding the Finnish Route 66, which is semi-famous because of a translation of the American song that transposed all the town names to it. Unlike the previous few seats, this one stuck with the Centre in 2023 as well.
162: Kauhava
18,279 (-3,979)
A very similar seat to #161, with a very similar result.
163: Jakobstad (Pietarsaari)
18,463 (-3,795)
The largest Swedish-majority town in Ostrobothnia (possibly the largest in Finland? Raseborg is the biggest municipality, but it's got multiple towns in it) is nonetheless a pretty provincial place. The rural areas included in the seat (Larsmo and Öja) are heavily evangelical, and Larsmo tends to be the only KD-voting municipality in Finland, but they're not enough to offset the SFP's lead in Jakobstad proper. Also worth noting that this is Anna-Maja Henriksson's hometown, so she might well represent the constituency in this scenario.
164: Pedersöre
22,869 (+611)
The final Swedish-majority constituency covers the entire rural area north of Korsholm, including the town of Nykarleby as well as its namesake municipality, on whose name Jakobstad's Finnish name is based (confusingly). It's, again, a pretty thoroughly evangelical area, and the KD did well in Pedersöre itself in 2023, but again, nothing that came close to challenging the SFP's hold on the electorate.
165: Kokkola (Karleby)
29,815 (+7,557)
When I was talking about wonky electorate numbers before, this (and the Seinäjoki area) was the main thing I was talking about. Kokkola is way too large for a single seat, but nowhere near big enough for two, and there wasn't any way to move some suburbs over to a neighbouring seat without it getting really awkward and/or combining Finnish- and Swedish-speaking areas. So here we are. Although the Karleby rural municipality was Swedish-speaking traditionally, the city is not, and the merged municipality has always been pretty solidly Finnish. It's yet another one of our favourites, the post-industrial northern Finnish towns that have gone from being somewhat (although in this case, frankly not very) left-wing to voting for the Finns.
166: Kannus
21,015 (-1,243)
Finally, the area bordering the Oulu region is very similar to the areas across the boundary, being largely made up of Centre-voting small towns yet again. This is likely one of the safest seats for the Centre in the whole country, and it showed no signs of budging in 2023.
Central Finland (10 seats, quota 21,656)
167: Jyväskylä Centre (Jyväskylä-Keskusta, Jyväskylä centrum)
20,821 (-835)
Jyväskylä is known for having had the first secondary school that taught in the Finnish language, which was established just a couple of decades after the city itself in the 19th century. This seat covers essentially the whole extent of the city at the time, plus the neighbourhood of Mannila (not to be confused with the capital of the Philippines), which is on a narrow isthmus between two lakes and so doesn't really fit anywhere else. It's one of few Coalition seats in this part of the country, for the same reasons why central Oulu is.
168: Jyväskylä-Kukkumäki
20,245 (-1,411)
This seat covers the western suburbs of Jyväskylä, being centred on the city hospital at Kukkumäki (which isn't really a dominant suburb, so I might end up renaming the seat). Most of these areas are post-war flat blocks, and so it votes pretty solidly SDP.
169: Jyväskylä-Seppälä
21,061 (-595)
Similar to #168, although with a slightly stronger right-wing presence. It's just that that presence is more or less evenly split between the Coalition and the Finns, which allows the SDP to come out on top by a narrow margin regardless.
170: Jyväskylä-Kuokkala
22,205 (+549)
Kuokkala sits on a peninsula across the Jyväsjärvi lake from the city centre, and is pretty mixed between working- and middle-class areas. The Coalition aren't far behind here, but the SDP probably still come out on top because they have decent leads where they're strong.
171: Palokka
18,352 (-3,304)
This seat has been part of Jyväskylä administratively since 2009, but very much retains an exurban vibe - its relationship to Jyväskylä is similar to that between Haukipudas and Oulu. Like Haukipudas, it's gone from being good for the left (in this case, the SDP) to being won by the Finns, and it wouldn't surprise me if 2023 isn't the first time that's happened.
172: Muurame
19,361 (-2,295)
This is evidently a very mixed seat, because while Muurame proper voted for the Coalition and the SDP, the Korpilahti area (now part of Jyväskylä) is split between the Finns and Centre, as are the two municipalities of Petäjävesi and Uurainen to the north. I ended up giving it to the Finns, largely because that felt like the least off vibe. Historically I think this would've tended to be an SDP seat, like the rest of the Jyväskylä region, or possibly an SDP-Centre marginal.
173: Laukaa (Laukas)
26,254 (+4,598)
Laukaa is the mother parish for most of Central Finland, and is paired here with the small municipalities southeast of Jyväskylä (which really don't quite fit in anywhere) as well as a few eastern parts of the city itself. The result is a seat that's significantly over quota, but sometimes that ends up happening. I can blame exurban growth and say it was probably smaller when originally drawn. Either way, the Finns win this one, from what was likely a Centre seat previously.
174: Jämsä
25,021 (+3,365)
Jämsä and Keuruu, which make up the bulk of this seat together, are both old industrial towns, and Jämsä has even resisted the rise of the Finns to keep voting SDP. Since it's the bigger of the two, I imagine the seat as a whole also goes red, although it's likely a marginal seat.
175: Äänekoski
20,437 (-1,219)
See #174.
176: Saarijärvi
22,799 (+1,143)
The final seat in Central Finland covers the entire north of the region, which is notably low in population density and, aside from the somewhat industrialised Viitasaari, is a stronghold for the Centre.
Total for these two regions:
Finns 8
SDP 6
SFP 5
Centre 4
Coalition 2
Overall total thus far:
Finns 16
Centre 14
SDP 8
Coalition 6
SFP 5
Vaasa (15 constituencies, quota 22,258)
Some of the electorate sizes are a bit fucked here, which is mainly because I wanted to avoid crossing the language boundary. Seat names are consistently in the majority language, with the minority language in brackets after.
152: Vasa North (Pohjois-Vaasa, Vasa Norra)
19,718 (-2,540)
Vasa's northern suburbs, which this seat mainly covers (although it also dips south to take in half of the city centre), tend to be middle-class and have a higher proportion of Swedish speakers. As such, I see no difficulty for the SFP in this seat.
153: Vasa South (Etelä-Vaasa, Vasa Södra)
21,511 (-747)
By contrast, the south of Vasa is more Finnish (though there's still a sizeable Swedish minority, it's not like Belfast) and tends left-wing. Although the Finns put up a strong challenge this time around, I think the SDP would still eke out a win.
154: Korsholm (Mustasaari)
22,358 (+100)
The namesake municipality of this seat was formed in 1972 by merging all the Swedish-speaking rural municipalities around Vasa, which I imagine was partly done to resist the area's annexation by the majority-Finnish-speaking city. Its local economy doesn't function brilliantly, to say the least, but it guards its independence and Swedish-majority status fiercely, and with the addition of some outer suburbs from Vasa proper, it's big enough to form its own seat. Safe SFP, as you'd expect.
155: Närpes (Närpiö)
18,530 (-3,728)
The coast south of Vasa is famous for its well-preserved small towns and impenetrable dialects of Swedish, and based on this you won't be surprised to know this is another ultra-safe SFP seat - possibly the safest one in the entire country.
156: Kauhajoki
16,719 (-5,539)
Even though all but the namesake municipality in this seat have official Swedish names that actually sound Swedish and aren't just random respellings of the Finnish name, it is as monolithically Finnish-speaking as #155 is Swedish-speaking. In the past would've been safe for the Centre, but the Finns very likely make it over the top this time.
157: Laihia (Laihela)
19,489 (-2,769)
See what I mean about random respellings? Anyway, Laihia is most famous because its inhabitants are supposedly very stingy, and for being the home of Centre Party founder and ideologue Santeri Alkio. Despite this, the Finns outperformed the Centre here this time.
158: Kurikka
25,098 (+2,840)
The only notable thing I know about this constituency is that it's home to the Koskenkorva distillery. Like the rest of the area, it used to be safe for the Centre but now voted for the Finns by a pretty respectable margin.
159: Seinäjoki
27,380 (+5,122)
The railway town of Seinäjoki, which is known for its large number of Alvar Aalto-designed modernist buildings, is one of the most conservative cities in Finland. It would've traditionally been a Coalition seat, and they would probably eke out a narrow win over the Finns in 2023 as well.
160: Lapua (Lappo)
28,038 (+5,780)
To no one's surprise, the spiritual home of Finnish fascism voted for the Finns. Lapua would've been a Coalition seat for most of its history before that, and it would likely still be pretty narrow.
161: Alavus (Alavo)
24,589 (+2,331)
This seat covers an assortment of small towns and villages largely surrounding the Finnish Route 66, which is semi-famous because of a translation of the American song that transposed all the town names to it. Unlike the previous few seats, this one stuck with the Centre in 2023 as well.
162: Kauhava
18,279 (-3,979)
A very similar seat to #161, with a very similar result.
163: Jakobstad (Pietarsaari)
18,463 (-3,795)
The largest Swedish-majority town in Ostrobothnia (possibly the largest in Finland? Raseborg is the biggest municipality, but it's got multiple towns in it) is nonetheless a pretty provincial place. The rural areas included in the seat (Larsmo and Öja) are heavily evangelical, and Larsmo tends to be the only KD-voting municipality in Finland, but they're not enough to offset the SFP's lead in Jakobstad proper. Also worth noting that this is Anna-Maja Henriksson's hometown, so she might well represent the constituency in this scenario.
164: Pedersöre
22,869 (+611)
The final Swedish-majority constituency covers the entire rural area north of Korsholm, including the town of Nykarleby as well as its namesake municipality, on whose name Jakobstad's Finnish name is based (confusingly). It's, again, a pretty thoroughly evangelical area, and the KD did well in Pedersöre itself in 2023, but again, nothing that came close to challenging the SFP's hold on the electorate.
165: Kokkola (Karleby)
29,815 (+7,557)
When I was talking about wonky electorate numbers before, this (and the Seinäjoki area) was the main thing I was talking about. Kokkola is way too large for a single seat, but nowhere near big enough for two, and there wasn't any way to move some suburbs over to a neighbouring seat without it getting really awkward and/or combining Finnish- and Swedish-speaking areas. So here we are. Although the Karleby rural municipality was Swedish-speaking traditionally, the city is not, and the merged municipality has always been pretty solidly Finnish. It's yet another one of our favourites, the post-industrial northern Finnish towns that have gone from being somewhat (although in this case, frankly not very) left-wing to voting for the Finns.
166: Kannus
21,015 (-1,243)
Finally, the area bordering the Oulu region is very similar to the areas across the boundary, being largely made up of Centre-voting small towns yet again. This is likely one of the safest seats for the Centre in the whole country, and it showed no signs of budging in 2023.
Central Finland (10 seats, quota 21,656)
167: Jyväskylä Centre (Jyväskylä-Keskusta, Jyväskylä centrum)
20,821 (-835)
Jyväskylä is known for having had the first secondary school that taught in the Finnish language, which was established just a couple of decades after the city itself in the 19th century. This seat covers essentially the whole extent of the city at the time, plus the neighbourhood of Mannila (not to be confused with the capital of the Philippines), which is on a narrow isthmus between two lakes and so doesn't really fit anywhere else. It's one of few Coalition seats in this part of the country, for the same reasons why central Oulu is.
168: Jyväskylä-Kukkumäki
20,245 (-1,411)
This seat covers the western suburbs of Jyväskylä, being centred on the city hospital at Kukkumäki (which isn't really a dominant suburb, so I might end up renaming the seat). Most of these areas are post-war flat blocks, and so it votes pretty solidly SDP.
169: Jyväskylä-Seppälä
21,061 (-595)
Similar to #168, although with a slightly stronger right-wing presence. It's just that that presence is more or less evenly split between the Coalition and the Finns, which allows the SDP to come out on top by a narrow margin regardless.
170: Jyväskylä-Kuokkala
22,205 (+549)
Kuokkala sits on a peninsula across the Jyväsjärvi lake from the city centre, and is pretty mixed between working- and middle-class areas. The Coalition aren't far behind here, but the SDP probably still come out on top because they have decent leads where they're strong.
171: Palokka
18,352 (-3,304)
This seat has been part of Jyväskylä administratively since 2009, but very much retains an exurban vibe - its relationship to Jyväskylä is similar to that between Haukipudas and Oulu. Like Haukipudas, it's gone from being good for the left (in this case, the SDP) to being won by the Finns, and it wouldn't surprise me if 2023 isn't the first time that's happened.
172: Muurame
19,361 (-2,295)
This is evidently a very mixed seat, because while Muurame proper voted for the Coalition and the SDP, the Korpilahti area (now part of Jyväskylä) is split between the Finns and Centre, as are the two municipalities of Petäjävesi and Uurainen to the north. I ended up giving it to the Finns, largely because that felt like the least off vibe. Historically I think this would've tended to be an SDP seat, like the rest of the Jyväskylä region, or possibly an SDP-Centre marginal.
173: Laukaa (Laukas)
26,254 (+4,598)
Laukaa is the mother parish for most of Central Finland, and is paired here with the small municipalities southeast of Jyväskylä (which really don't quite fit in anywhere) as well as a few eastern parts of the city itself. The result is a seat that's significantly over quota, but sometimes that ends up happening. I can blame exurban growth and say it was probably smaller when originally drawn. Either way, the Finns win this one, from what was likely a Centre seat previously.
174: Jämsä
25,021 (+3,365)
Jämsä and Keuruu, which make up the bulk of this seat together, are both old industrial towns, and Jämsä has even resisted the rise of the Finns to keep voting SDP. Since it's the bigger of the two, I imagine the seat as a whole also goes red, although it's likely a marginal seat.
175: Äänekoski
20,437 (-1,219)
See #174.
176: Saarijärvi
22,799 (+1,143)
The final seat in Central Finland covers the entire north of the region, which is notably low in population density and, aside from the somewhat industrialised Viitasaari, is a stronghold for the Centre.
Total for these two regions:
Finns 8
SDP 6
SFP 5
Centre 4
Coalition 2
Overall total thus far:
Finns 16
Centre 14
SDP 8
Coalition 6
SFP 5
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Savo-Karelia (15 seats, quota 22,120)
Not entirely happy with the division here, I think the Karelian half of the constituency got shafted somewhat. Which I think is a risk of leaving it until last, and also I doubt it would've been possible to give it another seat and take one away from Savonia, which leaves the rather unattractive option of making a big cross-border one. I could've solved this by apportioning the seats based on administrative regions rather than constituencies, but oh well.
137: Kuopio Central (Kuopio-Keskusta)
20,982 (-1,138)
Kuopio is known as the capital of eastern Finland and one of its major regional centres, as well as for its lakeside location and the local specialty kalakukko, a fish stew baked inside a loaf of rye bread for several hours. It's a reasonably prosperous city with a large knowledge economy, and this makes it a stronghold of the Coalition. As we've been able to see before, city centres tend to be more right-wing than suburbs in Finland, and Kuopio isn't really an exception to this pattern, so this is quite a safe seat for them.
138: Kuopio-Männistö
19,828 (-2,292)
This is a more socially mixed seat, including areas of both flats and detached houses, but Kuopio's natural blue lean means it most likely goes to the Coalition most of the time - certainly in 2023 it would.
139: Kuopio-Neulamäki
19,321 (-2,799)
This seat covers the bulk of Kuopio's post-war housing estates, and will probably have been a safe red seat for some time. The Finns do somewhat well here, but not well enough to overtake the SDP.
140: Kuopio-Saaristokaupunki
21,190 (-930)
Kuopio's fourth and final seat includes much of the former Kuopio rural municipality, with most of its population in the city's newly-developed southern suburbs. These are mainly middle-class areas built to take advantage of the area's natural beauty, and as a result this is probably the safest Coalition seat we've covered thus far.
141: Siilinjärvi
24,401 (+2,281)
Siilinjärvi is a reasonably-sized mining town, which forms kind of an ugly hole in Kuopio on the municipal map - here it's joined with the former municipalities of Nilsiä and Juankoski (both now part of Kuopio) to form a slightly oversized constituency. It's also notable for being the home of former Coalition leader and Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, but it would likely have been a safe-ish Centre seat before 2023, so I imagine he would've been given a seat in Kuopio proper instead.
142: Suonenjoki
21,342 (-778)
This is a thoroughly rural Savonian area most known for being the home of former President Kekkonen. Appropriately enough, it's a safe Centre seat.
143: Iisalmi (Idensalmi)
16,687 (-5,433)
Iisalmi has a few small industries, notably the Olvi brewing company, and used to be one of the best urban areas for the Centre, but like so many other such places it fell to the Finns this time.
144: Lapinlahti
20,663 (-1,457)
Another rural seat, this one covering the entire northernmost part of Savonia with the exception of Iisalmi. Again, historically this would've been a bedrock Centre seat, but this time it's gone to the Finns.
145: Varkaus
22,821 (+701)
Varkaus is home to one of Finland's largest pulp and paper mills, and has a long history as one of the strongest towns in Finland for the SDP. Even though the seat also includes a few rural areas, it's still probably a somewhat safe red seat.
146: Leppävirta
20,742 (-1,378)
This seat covers, in essence, everything between Kuopio and Varkaus, and as such is largely rural. Its namesake town has about 4,000 people, and Outokumpu (technically in Karelia, but added to this seat to make up the numbers) is about the same size, but those are the biggest villages in the seat. Safe Centre seat.
147: Pielisjärvi
20,286 (-1,834)
A rare example of a seat named for a municipality that no longer exists (having merged with the town of Lieksa in the 70s and taken the name of the town), though it also refers to the lake Pielinen, one of the biggest in Finland, which dominates the landscape. Another Centre seat in one of the most isolated parts of southern Finland.
148: Liperi (Libelits)
23,953 (+1,833)
This seat is split between exurbs of Joensuu, which tend towards the Finns, and more solidly rural areas which vote for the Centre. It's likely quite narrowly divided, but I imagine it just about stays green.
149: Joensuu West (Länsi-Joensuu)
28,556 (+6,436)
Joensuu, which literally means "river mouth", is the capital of North Karelia and has a fairly varied economy, with both industrial and academic sectors present. It's been solidly red for much of its history, and this election is no exception to that. This (oversized, as I'm aware) seat covers the city centre as well as the northern and western suburbs.
150: Joensuu East (Itä-Joensuu)
24,227 (+2,107)
There's not a clear political divide between east and west in Joensuu, at least not in 2023, so both seats end up red on this. The eastern one includes the bulk of the former municipality of Pyhäselkä as well as the rest of the city proper.
151: Border Karelia (Raja-Karjala)
26,800 (+4,680)
Technically, "Border Karelia" traditionally referred to a different region, the part of pre-war Finnish Karelia east of the Ladoga (so along the then-Russian border). There's a bit of overlap with this area though, and at any rate it's a better name than "East Karelia", which tends to refer to the Republic of Karelia in Russia. At any rate, whatever its name, this seat includes everything east and south of Joensuu, stretching from Ilomantsi in the north to Kesälahti in the south and taking in most of the rural parts of Joensuu municipality. It's pretty much entirely composed of Centre-voting areas, although historically both this seat and #147 would've been competitive for the SDP as well.
Regional subtotal
Centre 5
SDP 4
Finns 3
Coalition 3
National total (thus far)
Centre 19
Finns 19
SDP 12
Coalition 9
SFP 5
Not entirely happy with the division here, I think the Karelian half of the constituency got shafted somewhat. Which I think is a risk of leaving it until last, and also I doubt it would've been possible to give it another seat and take one away from Savonia, which leaves the rather unattractive option of making a big cross-border one. I could've solved this by apportioning the seats based on administrative regions rather than constituencies, but oh well.
137: Kuopio Central (Kuopio-Keskusta)
20,982 (-1,138)
Kuopio is known as the capital of eastern Finland and one of its major regional centres, as well as for its lakeside location and the local specialty kalakukko, a fish stew baked inside a loaf of rye bread for several hours. It's a reasonably prosperous city with a large knowledge economy, and this makes it a stronghold of the Coalition. As we've been able to see before, city centres tend to be more right-wing than suburbs in Finland, and Kuopio isn't really an exception to this pattern, so this is quite a safe seat for them.
138: Kuopio-Männistö
19,828 (-2,292)
This is a more socially mixed seat, including areas of both flats and detached houses, but Kuopio's natural blue lean means it most likely goes to the Coalition most of the time - certainly in 2023 it would.
139: Kuopio-Neulamäki
19,321 (-2,799)
This seat covers the bulk of Kuopio's post-war housing estates, and will probably have been a safe red seat for some time. The Finns do somewhat well here, but not well enough to overtake the SDP.
140: Kuopio-Saaristokaupunki
21,190 (-930)
Kuopio's fourth and final seat includes much of the former Kuopio rural municipality, with most of its population in the city's newly-developed southern suburbs. These are mainly middle-class areas built to take advantage of the area's natural beauty, and as a result this is probably the safest Coalition seat we've covered thus far.
141: Siilinjärvi
24,401 (+2,281)
Siilinjärvi is a reasonably-sized mining town, which forms kind of an ugly hole in Kuopio on the municipal map - here it's joined with the former municipalities of Nilsiä and Juankoski (both now part of Kuopio) to form a slightly oversized constituency. It's also notable for being the home of former Coalition leader and Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, but it would likely have been a safe-ish Centre seat before 2023, so I imagine he would've been given a seat in Kuopio proper instead.
142: Suonenjoki
21,342 (-778)
This is a thoroughly rural Savonian area most known for being the home of former President Kekkonen. Appropriately enough, it's a safe Centre seat.
143: Iisalmi (Idensalmi)
16,687 (-5,433)
Iisalmi has a few small industries, notably the Olvi brewing company, and used to be one of the best urban areas for the Centre, but like so many other such places it fell to the Finns this time.
144: Lapinlahti
20,663 (-1,457)
Another rural seat, this one covering the entire northernmost part of Savonia with the exception of Iisalmi. Again, historically this would've been a bedrock Centre seat, but this time it's gone to the Finns.
145: Varkaus
22,821 (+701)
Varkaus is home to one of Finland's largest pulp and paper mills, and has a long history as one of the strongest towns in Finland for the SDP. Even though the seat also includes a few rural areas, it's still probably a somewhat safe red seat.
146: Leppävirta
20,742 (-1,378)
This seat covers, in essence, everything between Kuopio and Varkaus, and as such is largely rural. Its namesake town has about 4,000 people, and Outokumpu (technically in Karelia, but added to this seat to make up the numbers) is about the same size, but those are the biggest villages in the seat. Safe Centre seat.
147: Pielisjärvi
20,286 (-1,834)
A rare example of a seat named for a municipality that no longer exists (having merged with the town of Lieksa in the 70s and taken the name of the town), though it also refers to the lake Pielinen, one of the biggest in Finland, which dominates the landscape. Another Centre seat in one of the most isolated parts of southern Finland.
148: Liperi (Libelits)
23,953 (+1,833)
This seat is split between exurbs of Joensuu, which tend towards the Finns, and more solidly rural areas which vote for the Centre. It's likely quite narrowly divided, but I imagine it just about stays green.
149: Joensuu West (Länsi-Joensuu)
28,556 (+6,436)
Joensuu, which literally means "river mouth", is the capital of North Karelia and has a fairly varied economy, with both industrial and academic sectors present. It's been solidly red for much of its history, and this election is no exception to that. This (oversized, as I'm aware) seat covers the city centre as well as the northern and western suburbs.
150: Joensuu East (Itä-Joensuu)
24,227 (+2,107)
There's not a clear political divide between east and west in Joensuu, at least not in 2023, so both seats end up red on this. The eastern one includes the bulk of the former municipality of Pyhäselkä as well as the rest of the city proper.
151: Border Karelia (Raja-Karjala)
26,800 (+4,680)
Technically, "Border Karelia" traditionally referred to a different region, the part of pre-war Finnish Karelia east of the Ladoga (so along the then-Russian border). There's a bit of overlap with this area though, and at any rate it's a better name than "East Karelia", which tends to refer to the Republic of Karelia in Russia. At any rate, whatever its name, this seat includes everything east and south of Joensuu, stretching from Ilomantsi in the north to Kesälahti in the south and taking in most of the rural parts of Joensuu municipality. It's pretty much entirely composed of Centre-voting areas, although historically both this seat and #147 would've been competitive for the SDP as well.
Regional subtotal
Centre 5
SDP 4
Finns 3
Coalition 3
National total (thus far)
Centre 19
Finns 19
SDP 12
Coalition 9
SFP 5
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Skipping to the other end of the country...
Helsinki (23 constituencies, quota 20,953)
01: City Centre (Keskusta, Centrum)
20,676 (-277)
As the name hints, this is the old centre of Helsinki, including the entire extent of the city before it was made the capital in 1812. The very heart of the city isn't very heavily populated, but the homes that do exist here (mostly in Katajanokka/Skatudden and Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg) are extremely expensive, so the seat is extremely safe for the Coalition.
02: Punavuori-Jätkäsaari (Rödbergen-Busholmen)
21,440 (+487)
This is a slightly awkward seat as it's divided in half physically by the Hietalahti/Sandviken bay, with Punavuori/Rödbergen, in the east, being part of the same old-money-dominated urban core as #01, while Jätkäsaari/Busholmen, in the west, is the core of a new development around the former industrial harbour. This doesn't affect voting patterns too much, however, as both of these are right-wing areas, and so the Coalition holds the seat by a good margin.
03: Kamppi-Töölö (Kampen-Tölö)
21,965 (+1,012)
Most of this seat was built in the mid-to-late 1800s, as expansions to the original city plan, but today they form part of the absolute heart of the city as much as the previous two seats - the seat includes such landmarks as the National Museum, the Parliament building, the "Church in the Rock" at Temppeliaukio/Tempelplatsen, and the Kampinkeskus shopping centre. Again, living here is very expensive, which tends to weed out anyone not reliably voting for the Coalition.
04: Outer Töölö (Taka-Töölö, Bortre Tölö)
22,203 (+1,250)
Besides Outer Töölö proper, which as the name implies was built as a continuation of Inner Töölö around the turn of the century, this seat also covers the Olympic Park and the Meilahti/Mejlans area, which includes Helsinki's biggest hospital, the presidential residence at Mäntyniemi/Talludden, and a large housing estate built in the immediate post-war era. This is somewhat marginal while Outer Töölö is solidly blue, so the seat ends up voting for the Coalition as well.
05: Kallio (Berghäll)
21,826 (+873)
This is the heart of working-class Helsinki, including the headquarters of most of the old labour movement institutions as well as a large area of what was originally workers' homes for the harbour and various associated factories. As with so many other such areas across the West, it's since been gentrified and turned into a middle-class mecca, but it remains quite politically radical - in 2019 it would most likely have voted Green, and this time it went for the Left Alliance by a respectable margin.
06: Sörnäinen (Sörnäs)
21,151 (+198)
This, I imagine, would be a relatively new seat, although it's possible that Kallio would've been split in half earlier in which case this seat would've been created from its eastern half. It's named for Sörnäinen/Sörnäs, the easternmost of the old working-class settlements, but today its actual economic centre would most likely be around Kalasatama/Fiskehamnen, a new development in the former industrial harbour. Both it and Kulosaari/Brändö, which is part of this seat largely to make up the numbers and because it doesn't fit anywhere else, vote strongly for the Coalition, which along with vote-splitting between Left, SDP and Greens ensures that this ends up a blue district in spite of its location.
07: Pasila-Vallila (Böle-Vallgård)
22,680 (+1,727)
This is a slightly heterogeneous seat that includes the rest of the old workers' quarters, centred on Vallila/Vallgård, as well as Pasila/Böle, a substantially newer area (the first parts were built in the 1970s, and it's still growing rapidly) centred on Finland's second-busiest railway station, which forms the junction between the lines toward Turku and Hämeenlinna. There's a noticeable political divide between these two areas, with Vallila voting largely for the Left this time while Pasila was SDP-Coalition marginal. I've coloured it in for the Left here, but I think it could equally well go SDP since that party has more equal support across the constituency.
08: Kumpula (Gumtäkt)
19,414 (-1,539)
The last seat within Helsinki's pre-1946 boundaries is quite mixed, with both small detached homes and high-density housing present, notably around the former Arabia porcelain factory, which is now home to a number of educational institutions. The strong student presence along with spillover from Kallio and surrounding areas makes it a reasonably left-leaning seat - it's yet another likely Green seat from 2019, which once again does not go their way in 2023, largely due to tactical voting for the SDP to keep another party from coming in first place.
09: Oulunkylä (Åggelby)
17,912 (-3,041)
This seat is pretty much exactly coterminous with the former municipality of the same name, which existed from 1921 until 1946. It's centred on a station along the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna railway, and resembles #08 in many ways, being a socially divided but broadly middle-class area. It lacks the student presence, however, which means it's a textbook SDP-Coalition marginal seat. The SDP narrowly pull ahead in 2023.
10: Haaga (Haga)
24,530 (+3,577)
Another former suburban municipality centred on a railway station, Haaga is however a bit more thoroughly middle-class, which makes the seat reasonably good for the Coalition.
11: Munkkiniemi (Munksnäs)
23,424 (+2,471)
Munkkiniemi/Munksnäs proper is one of the wealthiest and most right-wing parts of Helsinki outside the city centre, so although this seat also includes the more marginal areas of Munkkivuori/Munkshöjden and Pitäjänmäki/Sockenbacka, it's still a safe Coalition seat.
12: Lauttasaari (Drumsö)
19,417 (-1,806)
Lauttasaari/Drumsö is an island that was largely uninhabited until the early 20th century, but quickly got built out after that and today hosts both the motorway and metro line connecting the southern tier of Espoo to Helsinki city centre. It's one of the most heavily Swedish-speaking parts of Helsinki (around 15%) and very thoroughly middle-class and Coalition-voting.
13: Kaarela (Kårböle)
20,064 (-889)
This seat, whose Swedish name should not be confused with the village in Hälsingland that almost burned down in 2018, is made up largely of working-class suburbs that grew up around the Martinlaakso/Mårtensdal railway line in the 1970s. As you might expect, unlike the rest of northwest Helsinki, it's pretty solid for the SDP.
14: Pakila (Baggböle)
19,694 (-1,259)
This seat, whose Swedish name should not be confused with the village in Västerbotten which became a byword for stealing lumber from the Crown in the 19th century, is largely made up of small detached houses (egnahem) whose original residents were overwhelmingly poor (a lot of them evacuees from Karelia) and left-wing. However, that was a long time ago, and the area's location made it extremely desirable for middle-class families looking to buy a home outright in the post-war era. The result was thorough gentrification and an area that is very safe for the Coalition today.
15: Viiki (Vik)
22,645 (+1,692)
This is another heterogeneous seat that covers both Pukinmäki/Bocksbacka and Pihlajamäki/Rönnbacka, working-class railway suburbs typical of the area, and the Viiki science park, which is home to the University of Helsinki's life sciences campus and a large student population. Although the latter was one of the strongest areas for the Greens in the whole country, it pretty much all voted SDP in 2023.
16: Malmi (Malm)
21,302 (+349)
Malm was the administrative seat of Helsinge/Helsinki rural municipality until 1946, and the home of the city's first airport. It remains a local centre for northeast Helsinki, with a shopping centre, a hospital, a significant number of schools and a large railway station. Some of the outlying parts of the constituency lean towards the Coalition, but overall it's a reasonably safe SDP seat.
17: Puistola (Parkstad)
20,364 (-589)
Puistola/Parkstad, as the name implies, was Finland's first garden suburb, founded in 1906. However, the area's growth mainly took off after the Second World War, when a number of new suburbs were built and Puistola itself was redeveloped with a larger proportion of terraces and flat blocks. While Puistola itself votes for the Coalition more often than not, the rest of the seat is SDP-leaning, and that gives them the seat.
18: Laajasalo (Degerö)
18,228 (-2,725)
Laajasalo/Degerö, Helsinki's other island suburb, is similar enough to Lauttasaari, albeit a bit less right-wing on the whole. Still a reasonably safe Coalition seat.
19: Herttoniemi (Hertonäs)
21,290 (+337)
Another socially heterogeneous seat, including both older working-class suburbs in Herttoniemi proper and Roihuvuori/Kasberget and the newer, more middle-class development of Herttoniemenranta/Hertonäs strand. Likely would've been a Green/Coalition marginal in 2019, but in 2023 the SDP win it.
20: Vartiokylä (Botby)
17,395 (-3,558)
Vartiokylä/Botby is home to Itäkeskus, the commercial and administrative centre of East Helsinki as well as the main junction of the Helsinki Metro's eastern leg. There's not much else notable about this seat, except the fact that I couldn't get it within a reasonable distance of quota - the bulk of the population lives on post-war housing estates, where the SDP leads by quite a margin and the Finns usually come in second.
21: Kontula (Gårdsbacka)
23,533 (+2,580)
This is perhaps the most homogeneously working-class seat in all of Helsinki, largely covering housing estates built alongside the Metro in the 70s and 80s. It also dips north to take in Jakomäki/Jakobacka, the only area in the city where the Finns seem to be consistently on top. They probably get in second across the seat, but it's likely to be a distant second.
22: Vuosaari (Nordsjö)
19,970 (-983)
Only ceded to Helsinki in the 1960s and left mostly unexploited until the 90s, the Vuosaari/Nordsjö area is a bit less proletarian than the rest of East Helsinki, but the SDP's growing pull on the liberal middle classes means the seat still ends up voting for them by a good margin.
23: Mellunmäki (Mellungsbacka)
21,066 (+113)
We're closing things off with another "leftovers" seat, which includes its namesake district, a working-class housing estate that forms the endpoint of the Metro's northeastern branch, as well as a bit of northern Vuosaari/Nordsjö, Vartioharju/Botbyåsen, a more middle-class area that I detached from Vartiokylä to make up the numbers, and of course, Östersundom, the area controversially ceded from Sipoo in 2009 which remains largely rural in spite of repeated proposals to build on it (which is why it was ceded in the first place). Östersundom and Vartiokylä both voted for the Coalition, but they're smaller than Mellunmäki and north Vuosaari, so the seat ends up going to the SDP.
Subtotal
SDP 11
Coalition 10
Left 2
This is in spite of the Coalition topping the polls across the city by a five-point margin - however, their votes tend to be much more concentrated in wealthy areas, so I don't think the wrong-winner result is necessarily unrealistic.
National total (thus far)
SDP 23
Coalition 19
Centre 19
Finns 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Helsinki (23 constituencies, quota 20,953)
01: City Centre (Keskusta, Centrum)
20,676 (-277)
As the name hints, this is the old centre of Helsinki, including the entire extent of the city before it was made the capital in 1812. The very heart of the city isn't very heavily populated, but the homes that do exist here (mostly in Katajanokka/Skatudden and Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg) are extremely expensive, so the seat is extremely safe for the Coalition.
02: Punavuori-Jätkäsaari (Rödbergen-Busholmen)
21,440 (+487)
This is a slightly awkward seat as it's divided in half physically by the Hietalahti/Sandviken bay, with Punavuori/Rödbergen, in the east, being part of the same old-money-dominated urban core as #01, while Jätkäsaari/Busholmen, in the west, is the core of a new development around the former industrial harbour. This doesn't affect voting patterns too much, however, as both of these are right-wing areas, and so the Coalition holds the seat by a good margin.
03: Kamppi-Töölö (Kampen-Tölö)
21,965 (+1,012)
Most of this seat was built in the mid-to-late 1800s, as expansions to the original city plan, but today they form part of the absolute heart of the city as much as the previous two seats - the seat includes such landmarks as the National Museum, the Parliament building, the "Church in the Rock" at Temppeliaukio/Tempelplatsen, and the Kampinkeskus shopping centre. Again, living here is very expensive, which tends to weed out anyone not reliably voting for the Coalition.
04: Outer Töölö (Taka-Töölö, Bortre Tölö)
22,203 (+1,250)
Besides Outer Töölö proper, which as the name implies was built as a continuation of Inner Töölö around the turn of the century, this seat also covers the Olympic Park and the Meilahti/Mejlans area, which includes Helsinki's biggest hospital, the presidential residence at Mäntyniemi/Talludden, and a large housing estate built in the immediate post-war era. This is somewhat marginal while Outer Töölö is solidly blue, so the seat ends up voting for the Coalition as well.
05: Kallio (Berghäll)
21,826 (+873)
This is the heart of working-class Helsinki, including the headquarters of most of the old labour movement institutions as well as a large area of what was originally workers' homes for the harbour and various associated factories. As with so many other such areas across the West, it's since been gentrified and turned into a middle-class mecca, but it remains quite politically radical - in 2019 it would most likely have voted Green, and this time it went for the Left Alliance by a respectable margin.
06: Sörnäinen (Sörnäs)
21,151 (+198)
This, I imagine, would be a relatively new seat, although it's possible that Kallio would've been split in half earlier in which case this seat would've been created from its eastern half. It's named for Sörnäinen/Sörnäs, the easternmost of the old working-class settlements, but today its actual economic centre would most likely be around Kalasatama/Fiskehamnen, a new development in the former industrial harbour. Both it and Kulosaari/Brändö, which is part of this seat largely to make up the numbers and because it doesn't fit anywhere else, vote strongly for the Coalition, which along with vote-splitting between Left, SDP and Greens ensures that this ends up a blue district in spite of its location.
07: Pasila-Vallila (Böle-Vallgård)
22,680 (+1,727)
This is a slightly heterogeneous seat that includes the rest of the old workers' quarters, centred on Vallila/Vallgård, as well as Pasila/Böle, a substantially newer area (the first parts were built in the 1970s, and it's still growing rapidly) centred on Finland's second-busiest railway station, which forms the junction between the lines toward Turku and Hämeenlinna. There's a noticeable political divide between these two areas, with Vallila voting largely for the Left this time while Pasila was SDP-Coalition marginal. I've coloured it in for the Left here, but I think it could equally well go SDP since that party has more equal support across the constituency.
08: Kumpula (Gumtäkt)
19,414 (-1,539)
The last seat within Helsinki's pre-1946 boundaries is quite mixed, with both small detached homes and high-density housing present, notably around the former Arabia porcelain factory, which is now home to a number of educational institutions. The strong student presence along with spillover from Kallio and surrounding areas makes it a reasonably left-leaning seat - it's yet another likely Green seat from 2019, which once again does not go their way in 2023, largely due to tactical voting for the SDP to keep another party from coming in first place.
09: Oulunkylä (Åggelby)
17,912 (-3,041)
This seat is pretty much exactly coterminous with the former municipality of the same name, which existed from 1921 until 1946. It's centred on a station along the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna railway, and resembles #08 in many ways, being a socially divided but broadly middle-class area. It lacks the student presence, however, which means it's a textbook SDP-Coalition marginal seat. The SDP narrowly pull ahead in 2023.
10: Haaga (Haga)
24,530 (+3,577)
Another former suburban municipality centred on a railway station, Haaga is however a bit more thoroughly middle-class, which makes the seat reasonably good for the Coalition.
11: Munkkiniemi (Munksnäs)
23,424 (+2,471)
Munkkiniemi/Munksnäs proper is one of the wealthiest and most right-wing parts of Helsinki outside the city centre, so although this seat also includes the more marginal areas of Munkkivuori/Munkshöjden and Pitäjänmäki/Sockenbacka, it's still a safe Coalition seat.
12: Lauttasaari (Drumsö)
19,417 (-1,806)
Lauttasaari/Drumsö is an island that was largely uninhabited until the early 20th century, but quickly got built out after that and today hosts both the motorway and metro line connecting the southern tier of Espoo to Helsinki city centre. It's one of the most heavily Swedish-speaking parts of Helsinki (around 15%) and very thoroughly middle-class and Coalition-voting.
13: Kaarela (Kårböle)
20,064 (-889)
This seat, whose Swedish name should not be confused with the village in Hälsingland that almost burned down in 2018, is made up largely of working-class suburbs that grew up around the Martinlaakso/Mårtensdal railway line in the 1970s. As you might expect, unlike the rest of northwest Helsinki, it's pretty solid for the SDP.
14: Pakila (Baggböle)
19,694 (-1,259)
This seat, whose Swedish name should not be confused with the village in Västerbotten which became a byword for stealing lumber from the Crown in the 19th century, is largely made up of small detached houses (egnahem) whose original residents were overwhelmingly poor (a lot of them evacuees from Karelia) and left-wing. However, that was a long time ago, and the area's location made it extremely desirable for middle-class families looking to buy a home outright in the post-war era. The result was thorough gentrification and an area that is very safe for the Coalition today.
15: Viiki (Vik)
22,645 (+1,692)
This is another heterogeneous seat that covers both Pukinmäki/Bocksbacka and Pihlajamäki/Rönnbacka, working-class railway suburbs typical of the area, and the Viiki science park, which is home to the University of Helsinki's life sciences campus and a large student population. Although the latter was one of the strongest areas for the Greens in the whole country, it pretty much all voted SDP in 2023.
16: Malmi (Malm)
21,302 (+349)
Malm was the administrative seat of Helsinge/Helsinki rural municipality until 1946, and the home of the city's first airport. It remains a local centre for northeast Helsinki, with a shopping centre, a hospital, a significant number of schools and a large railway station. Some of the outlying parts of the constituency lean towards the Coalition, but overall it's a reasonably safe SDP seat.
17: Puistola (Parkstad)
20,364 (-589)
Puistola/Parkstad, as the name implies, was Finland's first garden suburb, founded in 1906. However, the area's growth mainly took off after the Second World War, when a number of new suburbs were built and Puistola itself was redeveloped with a larger proportion of terraces and flat blocks. While Puistola itself votes for the Coalition more often than not, the rest of the seat is SDP-leaning, and that gives them the seat.
18: Laajasalo (Degerö)
18,228 (-2,725)
Laajasalo/Degerö, Helsinki's other island suburb, is similar enough to Lauttasaari, albeit a bit less right-wing on the whole. Still a reasonably safe Coalition seat.
19: Herttoniemi (Hertonäs)
21,290 (+337)
Another socially heterogeneous seat, including both older working-class suburbs in Herttoniemi proper and Roihuvuori/Kasberget and the newer, more middle-class development of Herttoniemenranta/Hertonäs strand. Likely would've been a Green/Coalition marginal in 2019, but in 2023 the SDP win it.
20: Vartiokylä (Botby)
17,395 (-3,558)
Vartiokylä/Botby is home to Itäkeskus, the commercial and administrative centre of East Helsinki as well as the main junction of the Helsinki Metro's eastern leg. There's not much else notable about this seat, except the fact that I couldn't get it within a reasonable distance of quota - the bulk of the population lives on post-war housing estates, where the SDP leads by quite a margin and the Finns usually come in second.
21: Kontula (Gårdsbacka)
23,533 (+2,580)
This is perhaps the most homogeneously working-class seat in all of Helsinki, largely covering housing estates built alongside the Metro in the 70s and 80s. It also dips north to take in Jakomäki/Jakobacka, the only area in the city where the Finns seem to be consistently on top. They probably get in second across the seat, but it's likely to be a distant second.
22: Vuosaari (Nordsjö)
19,970 (-983)
Only ceded to Helsinki in the 1960s and left mostly unexploited until the 90s, the Vuosaari/Nordsjö area is a bit less proletarian than the rest of East Helsinki, but the SDP's growing pull on the liberal middle classes means the seat still ends up voting for them by a good margin.
23: Mellunmäki (Mellungsbacka)
21,066 (+113)
We're closing things off with another "leftovers" seat, which includes its namesake district, a working-class housing estate that forms the endpoint of the Metro's northeastern branch, as well as a bit of northern Vuosaari/Nordsjö, Vartioharju/Botbyåsen, a more middle-class area that I detached from Vartiokylä to make up the numbers, and of course, Östersundom, the area controversially ceded from Sipoo in 2009 which remains largely rural in spite of repeated proposals to build on it (which is why it was ceded in the first place). Östersundom and Vartiokylä both voted for the Coalition, but they're smaller than Mellunmäki and north Vuosaari, so the seat ends up going to the SDP.
Subtotal
SDP 11
Coalition 10
Left 2
This is in spite of the Coalition topping the polls across the city by a five-point margin - however, their votes tend to be much more concentrated in wealthy areas, so I don't think the wrong-winner result is necessarily unrealistic.
National total (thus far)
SDP 23
Coalition 19
Centre 19
Finns 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Uusimaa is far too big to do all in one go, so like Gaul, it will be brought to you in three parts.
Uusimaa/Nyland (36 constituencies, quota 21,234)
Part I: Espoo/Esbo (10 constituencies)
24: Leppävaara North (Pohjois-Leppävaara, Alberga Norra)
20,890 (-344)
Leppävaara is Espoo's most populous district, and not coincidentally, the closest to Helsinki (at least until the Western Motorway opened in 1965). Local trains run on separate tracks from here to Helsinki, allowing frequent and reliable service, and this has made the area even more tightly integrated with Helsinki's local economy than the rest of the (already profoundly suburban) municipality. Leppävaara proper is something of a swing area between SDP and Coalition, but this seat also includes surrounding bedroom communities that are deep blue, so it ends up a somewhat safe seat.
25: Leppävaara South (Etelä-Leppävaara, Alberga Södra)
20,355 (-879)
Not much to say here, this seat covers the southwestern half of Leppävaara and is essentially a mirror image of #24. Solid Coalition seat.
26: Kauniainen-Laaksolahti (Grankulla-Dalsvik)
20,746 (-488)
Kauniainen/Grankulla is something of an aberration in Finnish municipal politics, a small enclave inside Espoo that was split off from the municipality at the same time as the suburban municipalities around Helsinki formed, but which has managed to stay independent until the present day. No doubt it's helped in this by its extremely low tax rate, which has attracted some of Finland's wealthiest people to settle there, and by its status as a Swedish-speaking bastion within greater Helsinki (although it is now a Finnish-majority municipality, it's still some 35% Swedish). It's less of a Coalition stronghold than you might expect, but only because of the SFP presence, which is strong enough to make them the leading party in most local elections. Not so on the parliamentary level though - and in any case, the Espoo suburbs added on to make up the numbers are all deep blue.
27: Tapiola (Hagalund)
21,530 (+296)
Tapiola was built in the 1950s and is a unique attempt to create a high-density garden city, with plenty of parks and forests in between the flat blocks and commercial buildings that make up its core and several prominent architects involved in its development. This unique nature, coupled with the fact that it's right across the bay from Helsinki proper, makes it an extremely desirable place to live, and it's one of the safest blue seats in all of Finland. The only exception is Otaniemi/Otnäs, which has a large student population and thus a strong Green presence, but obviously that's nowhere near enough to make it competitive.
28: Matinkylä (Mattby)
23,170 (+1,936)
Matinkylä is another one of Espoo's district centres, with commercial and administrative buildings alongside high-density housing. This is one of the key areas served by the Länsimetro, but it was already well-connected before then. Not as safe for the Coalition as #27, but probably about level with the two Leppävaara seats.
29: Mankaa-Olari (Mankans-Olars)
21,595 (+361)
Two very goofy-sounding placenames (at least from the Swedish perspective) for two very average suburbs, detached from Tapiola and Matinkylä respectively because both districts were too big for a single constituency but not big enough for two. Olari has some high-density development, but it's not enough for the seat to be competitive.
30: Soukka (Sökö)
20,026 (-1,208)
This seat covers the southern half (roughly) of the Espoonlahti/Esboviken district, which is the most recently settled of Espoo's districts, and is likely to increase in population with the Metro's arrival. The area is mixed, with parts of Soukka proper being somewhat working-class (for Espoo) and SDP-leaning, while areas like Finnoo and Kaitaa are much more conservative.
31: Kivenlahti (Stensvik)
19,519 (-1,712)
Kivenlahti is the western terminus of the Länsimetro extension, and as such is well on its way to becoming a major regional centre, but currently it's Espoo's least populous constituency. As with #30, it's got a few pockets of SDP voters, but is a safe Coalition seat taken all together.
32: Espoo Centre (Espoon keskus, Esbo centrum)
21,706 (+472)
Espoo's old church village is a bit peripheral today, but it remains the administrative centre of the municipality as well as a significant suburb in its own right. With Kauklahti/Köklax added on, it's big enough to form its own constituency. Unlike the entire rest of Espoo, the seat is quite winnable for the SDP in a good year, but 2023 was not one of those. Well, maybe it was, but it was an even better year for the Coalition.
33: Espoo North (Pohjois-Espoo, Norra Esbo)
20,407 (-827)
This seat covers about half of Espoo's surface area, including several of greater Helsinki's most prominent outdoor recreation areas as well as a number of dispersed suburbs. Contrary to what you might expect from what used to be a Swedish-speaking municipality, even the most rural parts of Espoo are overwhelmingly Finnish-speaking today, and there's even a significant presence for the Finns party in some of the seat. Overall it's yet another safe Coalition seat though.
Subtotal
take a wild guess
National total
Coalition 29
SDP 23
Centre 19
Finns 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Uusimaa/Nyland (36 constituencies, quota 21,234)
Part I: Espoo/Esbo (10 constituencies)
24: Leppävaara North (Pohjois-Leppävaara, Alberga Norra)
20,890 (-344)
Leppävaara is Espoo's most populous district, and not coincidentally, the closest to Helsinki (at least until the Western Motorway opened in 1965). Local trains run on separate tracks from here to Helsinki, allowing frequent and reliable service, and this has made the area even more tightly integrated with Helsinki's local economy than the rest of the (already profoundly suburban) municipality. Leppävaara proper is something of a swing area between SDP and Coalition, but this seat also includes surrounding bedroom communities that are deep blue, so it ends up a somewhat safe seat.
25: Leppävaara South (Etelä-Leppävaara, Alberga Södra)
20,355 (-879)
Not much to say here, this seat covers the southwestern half of Leppävaara and is essentially a mirror image of #24. Solid Coalition seat.
26: Kauniainen-Laaksolahti (Grankulla-Dalsvik)
20,746 (-488)
Kauniainen/Grankulla is something of an aberration in Finnish municipal politics, a small enclave inside Espoo that was split off from the municipality at the same time as the suburban municipalities around Helsinki formed, but which has managed to stay independent until the present day. No doubt it's helped in this by its extremely low tax rate, which has attracted some of Finland's wealthiest people to settle there, and by its status as a Swedish-speaking bastion within greater Helsinki (although it is now a Finnish-majority municipality, it's still some 35% Swedish). It's less of a Coalition stronghold than you might expect, but only because of the SFP presence, which is strong enough to make them the leading party in most local elections. Not so on the parliamentary level though - and in any case, the Espoo suburbs added on to make up the numbers are all deep blue.
27: Tapiola (Hagalund)
21,530 (+296)
Tapiola was built in the 1950s and is a unique attempt to create a high-density garden city, with plenty of parks and forests in between the flat blocks and commercial buildings that make up its core and several prominent architects involved in its development. This unique nature, coupled with the fact that it's right across the bay from Helsinki proper, makes it an extremely desirable place to live, and it's one of the safest blue seats in all of Finland. The only exception is Otaniemi/Otnäs, which has a large student population and thus a strong Green presence, but obviously that's nowhere near enough to make it competitive.
28: Matinkylä (Mattby)
23,170 (+1,936)
Matinkylä is another one of Espoo's district centres, with commercial and administrative buildings alongside high-density housing. This is one of the key areas served by the Länsimetro, but it was already well-connected before then. Not as safe for the Coalition as #27, but probably about level with the two Leppävaara seats.
29: Mankaa-Olari (Mankans-Olars)
21,595 (+361)
Two very goofy-sounding placenames (at least from the Swedish perspective) for two very average suburbs, detached from Tapiola and Matinkylä respectively because both districts were too big for a single constituency but not big enough for two. Olari has some high-density development, but it's not enough for the seat to be competitive.
30: Soukka (Sökö)
20,026 (-1,208)
This seat covers the southern half (roughly) of the Espoonlahti/Esboviken district, which is the most recently settled of Espoo's districts, and is likely to increase in population with the Metro's arrival. The area is mixed, with parts of Soukka proper being somewhat working-class (for Espoo) and SDP-leaning, while areas like Finnoo and Kaitaa are much more conservative.
31: Kivenlahti (Stensvik)
19,519 (-1,712)
Kivenlahti is the western terminus of the Länsimetro extension, and as such is well on its way to becoming a major regional centre, but currently it's Espoo's least populous constituency. As with #30, it's got a few pockets of SDP voters, but is a safe Coalition seat taken all together.
32: Espoo Centre (Espoon keskus, Esbo centrum)
21,706 (+472)
Espoo's old church village is a bit peripheral today, but it remains the administrative centre of the municipality as well as a significant suburb in its own right. With Kauklahti/Köklax added on, it's big enough to form its own constituency. Unlike the entire rest of Espoo, the seat is quite winnable for the SDP in a good year, but 2023 was not one of those. Well, maybe it was, but it was an even better year for the Coalition.
33: Espoo North (Pohjois-Espoo, Norra Esbo)
20,407 (-827)
This seat covers about half of Espoo's surface area, including several of greater Helsinki's most prominent outdoor recreation areas as well as a number of dispersed suburbs. Contrary to what you might expect from what used to be a Swedish-speaking municipality, even the most rural parts of Espoo are overwhelmingly Finnish-speaking today, and there's even a significant presence for the Finns party in some of the seat. Overall it's yet another safe Coalition seat though.
Subtotal
take a wild guess
National total
Coalition 29
SDP 23
Centre 19
Finns 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Part II: Vantaa-Kerava (9 constituencies)
Vantaa/Vanda has a serious issue in terms of constituency balance: it's pretty thoroughly separated into a western and an eastern section, and the polling areas in the space between the two are drawn in such a way as to make crossing it nearly impossible even if it were desirable. As such, the three constituencies (#34-36) covering the western part of the municipality are all badly under quota. This would likely need fixing if these boundaries were to be used officially, but I'm not quite that invested.
34: Myyrmäki (Myrbacka)
19,053 (-2,181)
The suburbs that make up southwest Vantaa are essentially spillover from northwest Helsinki, specifically the estates along the Vantaankoski railway line that are also covered by seat #13 and parts of #10 over in Helsinki proper. This seat is very similar to #13, and like it, is reasonably safe for the SDP.
35: Martinlaakso (Mårtensdal)
17,834 (-3,400)
While this seat is centred on suburbs much like the ones that make up #34, it also includes the more middle-class areas around Hämeenkylä/Tavastby in Vantaa's very southwest corner, and this is enough to tip it over into a Coalition win.
36: Kivistö
19,388 (-1,846)
Was surprised to find that Kivistö, a former rural village which got a station on the new Ring Line in 2015 and is set to grow by a huge amount as a result, doesn't have an official Swedish name. There's a Finns presence in the very rural parts of this constituency, but overall it's safe for the Coalition.
37: Aviapolis
21,550 (+316)
Aside from its extremely dieselpunk name, Aviapolis isn't notable for much - it's basically exactly like every other airport-adjacent neighbourhood in every major western city. The seat does include the mother church for all of Helsinki and Vantaa, which again sounds more interesting than it is. Not much in the way of density around here, and by this point we all know how low-density suburbs in Helsinki vote.
38: Tikkurila (Dickursby)
23,480 (+2,246)
Tikkurila is Vantaa's administrative centre, and boasts one of the biggest railway stations in suburban Helsinki (and probably one of the biggest in all of Finland by ridership) in addition to all the stuff you'd expect from a suburban centre. It's very densely built-up due to its excellent transport links, but those also make it a desirable place to live, driving up rents and house prices and ensuring that the seat is fairly competitive for both sides - in 2023, it went to the Coalition, but the SDP could certainly win it as well.
39: Hakunila (Håkansböle)
22,180 (+946)
Essentially, this seat includes all of Vantaa east of the railway settlements. There's been sporadic talk of bringing the Metro out here, but for now it's got no rail links at all, and most (though not all) of it is working-class housing estates, so it's a reasonably safe SDP seat.
40: Koivukylä (Björkby)
20,715 (-519)
Yet another railway suburb, and a far less prosperous/gentrified one than Tikkurila, so a safe SDP seat. Possibly the safest in Vantaa, in competition with #34.
41: Korso
21,416 (+182)
This is a cross-border seat that takes in the southwest corner of Kerava in addition to its namesake railway suburb, which was added to Vantaa in 1954 after previously having been split between it, Kerava and Tuusula. It's likely to have been another safe seat for the SDP, but has turned from that into a tight three-way marginal, which I imagine the Finns win because they have a good hold on the Kerava part on the constituency.
42: Kerava (Kervo)
22,862 (+1,628)
The remainder of Kerava - which, yes, is only here because it was too big for one seat and Vantaa was too small for eight - resembles the other railway towns we've gone through. Like #41, it's a three-way marginal, and while my gut feeling would've given it to the SDP, the Coalition apparently won the municipality as a whole, and the areas moved to #41 didn't remove more Coalition than SDP voters, so I'm forced to conclude that it would most likely go blue.
Subtotal for the Helsinki suburbs
Coalition 15
SDP 3
Finns 1
National total (thus far)
Coalition 34
SDP 26
Finns 20
Centre 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Vantaa/Vanda has a serious issue in terms of constituency balance: it's pretty thoroughly separated into a western and an eastern section, and the polling areas in the space between the two are drawn in such a way as to make crossing it nearly impossible even if it were desirable. As such, the three constituencies (#34-36) covering the western part of the municipality are all badly under quota. This would likely need fixing if these boundaries were to be used officially, but I'm not quite that invested.
34: Myyrmäki (Myrbacka)
19,053 (-2,181)
The suburbs that make up southwest Vantaa are essentially spillover from northwest Helsinki, specifically the estates along the Vantaankoski railway line that are also covered by seat #13 and parts of #10 over in Helsinki proper. This seat is very similar to #13, and like it, is reasonably safe for the SDP.
35: Martinlaakso (Mårtensdal)
17,834 (-3,400)
While this seat is centred on suburbs much like the ones that make up #34, it also includes the more middle-class areas around Hämeenkylä/Tavastby in Vantaa's very southwest corner, and this is enough to tip it over into a Coalition win.
36: Kivistö
19,388 (-1,846)
Was surprised to find that Kivistö, a former rural village which got a station on the new Ring Line in 2015 and is set to grow by a huge amount as a result, doesn't have an official Swedish name. There's a Finns presence in the very rural parts of this constituency, but overall it's safe for the Coalition.
37: Aviapolis
21,550 (+316)
Aside from its extremely dieselpunk name, Aviapolis isn't notable for much - it's basically exactly like every other airport-adjacent neighbourhood in every major western city. The seat does include the mother church for all of Helsinki and Vantaa, which again sounds more interesting than it is. Not much in the way of density around here, and by this point we all know how low-density suburbs in Helsinki vote.
38: Tikkurila (Dickursby)
23,480 (+2,246)
Tikkurila is Vantaa's administrative centre, and boasts one of the biggest railway stations in suburban Helsinki (and probably one of the biggest in all of Finland by ridership) in addition to all the stuff you'd expect from a suburban centre. It's very densely built-up due to its excellent transport links, but those also make it a desirable place to live, driving up rents and house prices and ensuring that the seat is fairly competitive for both sides - in 2023, it went to the Coalition, but the SDP could certainly win it as well.
39: Hakunila (Håkansböle)
22,180 (+946)
Essentially, this seat includes all of Vantaa east of the railway settlements. There's been sporadic talk of bringing the Metro out here, but for now it's got no rail links at all, and most (though not all) of it is working-class housing estates, so it's a reasonably safe SDP seat.
40: Koivukylä (Björkby)
20,715 (-519)
Yet another railway suburb, and a far less prosperous/gentrified one than Tikkurila, so a safe SDP seat. Possibly the safest in Vantaa, in competition with #34.
41: Korso
21,416 (+182)
This is a cross-border seat that takes in the southwest corner of Kerava in addition to its namesake railway suburb, which was added to Vantaa in 1954 after previously having been split between it, Kerava and Tuusula. It's likely to have been another safe seat for the SDP, but has turned from that into a tight three-way marginal, which I imagine the Finns win because they have a good hold on the Kerava part on the constituency.
42: Kerava (Kervo)
22,862 (+1,628)
The remainder of Kerava - which, yes, is only here because it was too big for one seat and Vantaa was too small for eight - resembles the other railway towns we've gone through. Like #41, it's a three-way marginal, and while my gut feeling would've given it to the SDP, the Coalition apparently won the municipality as a whole, and the areas moved to #41 didn't remove more Coalition than SDP voters, so I'm forced to conclude that it would most likely go blue.
Subtotal for the Helsinki suburbs
Coalition 15
SDP 3
Finns 1
National total (thus far)
Coalition 34
SDP 26
Finns 20
Centre 19
SFP 5
Left 2
Part III: "Rural" Uusimaa (17 constituencies)
Alright, there's a lot of questionable electorate sizes in this. It wasn't easy, okay? Again, majority language first and minority language in parentheses.
43: Hangö-Ekenäs (Hanko-Tammisaari)
22,094 (+860)
The westernmost seat in Nyland/Uusimaa comprises the city of Hangö/Hanko and the bulk of Raseborg, which would've been just about the right size for a seat by itself except that Hangö is surrounded by it. Sigh. Anyway, both of the towns in this seat are traditional summer holiday spots, being near to the southernmost point in Finland, but the area also has a rich tradition of small-scale ironworking (the household tool company Fiskars takes its name from a village in this constituency), so its Finnish-speaking population overwhelmingly votes for the SDP, netting them a solid second place behind the SFP.
44: Karis-Ingå (Karjaa-Inkoo)
21,103 (-131)
Western Nyland's Swedish-speaking population is quite rural, so it was a bit awkward stringing together a second seat for them even though their numbers are enough to warrant one. The result is a constituency that stretches from Karis/Karjaa, a railway town in Raseborg, all the way to Helsinki's outermost suburbs. It's somewhat mixed socially, but that doesn't matter because it all more or less votes SFP.
45: Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt)
23,041 (+1,807)
This area was almost entirely Swedish-speaking until its population was evacuated to make way for the Soviet leased base area around Porkkala after WWII. When the Porkkala area was handed back, Kirkkonummi's proximity to the capital meant that it was largely settled by Finnish-speaking internal migrants, and today its Swedish population barely reaches twenty percent. Notably, this is Riikka Purra's home municipality, but the spillover from Espoo is still enough to deliver it to the Coalition by a solid margin.
46: Lohja (Lojo)
22,985 (+1,751)
Lohja is one of Finland's oldest known villages, its first recorded mention dating back to 1323, which means the municipality is planning a big 700th anniversary party this year even though it only became an urban municipality in 1926. It's mostly industrial, and although it is within somewhat feasible commuting distance of Helsinki, this has not led to a notable increase in support for the Coalition in recent time.
47: Karkkila (Högfors)
19,324 (-1,910)
The actual town of Karkkila, an iron foundry town that was traditionally a Communist stronghold, is somewhat peripheral to this seat, which mainly includes the rural parts of Lohja municipality. That matters less than you'd expect, however, since both areas voted for the Finns in reasonably large numbers.
48: Vihti (Vichtis)
21,646 (+412)
This seat is exactly coterminous with the municipality of the same name, which includes multiple different villages and has gone from being more or less rural and dominated by the lumber industry to being an outer exurb of Helsinki. In that time it's gone from being a rough three-way tie between SDP, Coalition and Centre to being one between the SDP, Coalition and Finns, with the latter coming out on top this time.
49: Nurmijärvi
22,559 (+1,325)
One of very few municipalities in Nyland/Uusimaa that only have one official name, in this case the Finnish one. Nurmijärvi likely would've been big enough for exactly one constituency in the past, but recent growth means I've had to lop off the northern part of the municipality and redraw the seat as a more purely suburban one centred on the town of Klaukkala and the church village itself. While most of the municipality is marginal between the Coalition and the Finns, Klaukkala is more thoroughly blue, which tips the balance for the seat as a whole.
50: Hyvinkää West (Länsi-Hyvinkää, Hyvinge Västra)
22,254 (+1,020)
The Finns-voting northern parts of Nurmijärvi are joined here by the western... third or so of Hyvinkää, a railway town that would be big enough for two seats by itself. Hence the somewhat awkward numbers in this part of the region. While Hyvinkää is pretty solidly red, its outlying areas are less so, and combined with the areas from Nurmijärvi I believe that would be enough to hand the seat to the Finns.
51: Hyvinkää East (Itä-Hyvinkää, Hyvinge Östra)
25,656 (+4,422)
...yeah. I may end up revisiting these boundaries and giving some border areas to Mäntsälä, because this is just clearly not a feasible deviation. I'll blame growth in Hyvinkää for now, although it hasn't been that brutal. Anyway, safe SDP town, safe SDP seat.
52: Järvenpää South (Etelä-Järvenpää, Träskända Södra)
20,069 (-1,165)
Järvenpää/Träskända (both names mean "end/head of the lake") was, to my knowledge, pretty much entirely built to house Karelian evacuees, and its history as a municipality only dates back to 1951. It's grown prodigiously for pretty much its entire history, and today is almost big enough for two constituencies in its own right. This seat includes the town centre and areas east and south, and narrowly comes out for the SDP.
53: Järvenpää North (Pohjois-Järvenpää, Träskända Norra)
24,176 (+2,942)
In addition to the rest of Järvenpää, this seat also includes Jokela and Kellokoski, which are part of Tuusula even though they're "across" Järvenpää from the rest of that municipality. Both villages (Kellokoski especially) are solid Finns territory, and the areas from Järvenpää are good enough for them that I'm comfortable handing them the seat.
54: Tuusula (Tusby)
20,835 (-399)
"Finally", I hear you say, "a seat that's only three figures off quota". Well, rest assured there won't be many more. I'm kind of surprised by how well this seat came together seeing as how it is the last one I drew in the immediate area. Tuusula is famous for the artists' colony that developed along its lakefront in the early 20th century, notably including Jean Sibelius, Aleksis Kivi and Pekka Halonen, but the bulk of its population lives in the town of Hyrylä, which was formerly a garrison town but has since developed into yet another Helsinki exurb. It's a pretty solid Coalition seat, though the Finns have a presence too.
55: Sipoo (Sibbo)
20,514 (-720)
Sipoo, much like Kirkkonummi, was a solidly Swedish-speaking parish before getting overwhelmed by Helsinki's spillover, but unlike Kirkkonummi this process wasn't helped along by forced population movements, so there's still something of a Swedish presence locally - just under forty percent. However, interestingly, the SFP only got about half that amount in this election, so the seat is won by the Coalition even though the SFP usually handily carries areas with this proportion of Swedish-speakers.
56: Porvoo West (Länsi-Porvoo, Borgå Västra)
18,383 (-2,851)
This is the counterpoint to the Hyvinkää seats both being hugely over quota. Anyway, despite being something of a cultural capital for the Swedish-speaking population of Nyland (Runeberg was from here, and it's the seat of Finland's Swedish-speaking Lutheran diocese), Porvoo is a majority Finnish-speaking city today. However, its Finnish-speaking population is pretty closely divided between SDP, Coalition and Finns, which means the SFP come out on top across the city and (I think) in both of the constituencies I've drawn.
57: Porvoo East (Itä-Porvoo, Borgå Östra)
17,626 (-3,608)
See #56, I guess, I don't really have much to say about this constituency specifically. It's probably slightly safer for the SFP than the western seat, if anything.
58: Mäntsälä
20,711 (-523)
Mäntsälä is most notable for the Mäntsälä Rebellion of 1932, which was a botched attempt by Finnish fascists to recreate the March on Rome. While not really a left-wing place, the actual inhabitants of Mäntsälä have tended to favour the Centre rather than overt right-wing extremism, but in this election they did in fact vote for the Finns.
59: Loviisa (Lovisa)
17,934 (-3,300)
I was surprised to find that Loviisa is actually also a Finnish-majority municipality these days. It has Finland's oldest nuclear power station, but doesn't have much else going for it, nor is it close enough to Helsinki to really become a commuter town. Despite its Finnish-speaking majority, the Swedish-speakers are enough of a monolithic voting bloc to hand the seat to the SFP by a wide margin.
Regional subtotal
Finns 5
SFP 5
Coalition 4
SDP 3
National total (thus far)
Coalition 38
SDP 29
Finns 25
Centre 19
SFP 10
Left 2
Alright, there's a lot of questionable electorate sizes in this. It wasn't easy, okay? Again, majority language first and minority language in parentheses.
43: Hangö-Ekenäs (Hanko-Tammisaari)
22,094 (+860)
The westernmost seat in Nyland/Uusimaa comprises the city of Hangö/Hanko and the bulk of Raseborg, which would've been just about the right size for a seat by itself except that Hangö is surrounded by it. Sigh. Anyway, both of the towns in this seat are traditional summer holiday spots, being near to the southernmost point in Finland, but the area also has a rich tradition of small-scale ironworking (the household tool company Fiskars takes its name from a village in this constituency), so its Finnish-speaking population overwhelmingly votes for the SDP, netting them a solid second place behind the SFP.
44: Karis-Ingå (Karjaa-Inkoo)
21,103 (-131)
Western Nyland's Swedish-speaking population is quite rural, so it was a bit awkward stringing together a second seat for them even though their numbers are enough to warrant one. The result is a constituency that stretches from Karis/Karjaa, a railway town in Raseborg, all the way to Helsinki's outermost suburbs. It's somewhat mixed socially, but that doesn't matter because it all more or less votes SFP.
45: Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt)
23,041 (+1,807)
This area was almost entirely Swedish-speaking until its population was evacuated to make way for the Soviet leased base area around Porkkala after WWII. When the Porkkala area was handed back, Kirkkonummi's proximity to the capital meant that it was largely settled by Finnish-speaking internal migrants, and today its Swedish population barely reaches twenty percent. Notably, this is Riikka Purra's home municipality, but the spillover from Espoo is still enough to deliver it to the Coalition by a solid margin.
46: Lohja (Lojo)
22,985 (+1,751)
Lohja is one of Finland's oldest known villages, its first recorded mention dating back to 1323, which means the municipality is planning a big 700th anniversary party this year even though it only became an urban municipality in 1926. It's mostly industrial, and although it is within somewhat feasible commuting distance of Helsinki, this has not led to a notable increase in support for the Coalition in recent time.
47: Karkkila (Högfors)
19,324 (-1,910)
The actual town of Karkkila, an iron foundry town that was traditionally a Communist stronghold, is somewhat peripheral to this seat, which mainly includes the rural parts of Lohja municipality. That matters less than you'd expect, however, since both areas voted for the Finns in reasonably large numbers.
48: Vihti (Vichtis)
21,646 (+412)
This seat is exactly coterminous with the municipality of the same name, which includes multiple different villages and has gone from being more or less rural and dominated by the lumber industry to being an outer exurb of Helsinki. In that time it's gone from being a rough three-way tie between SDP, Coalition and Centre to being one between the SDP, Coalition and Finns, with the latter coming out on top this time.
49: Nurmijärvi
22,559 (+1,325)
One of very few municipalities in Nyland/Uusimaa that only have one official name, in this case the Finnish one. Nurmijärvi likely would've been big enough for exactly one constituency in the past, but recent growth means I've had to lop off the northern part of the municipality and redraw the seat as a more purely suburban one centred on the town of Klaukkala and the church village itself. While most of the municipality is marginal between the Coalition and the Finns, Klaukkala is more thoroughly blue, which tips the balance for the seat as a whole.
50: Hyvinkää West (Länsi-Hyvinkää, Hyvinge Västra)
22,254 (+1,020)
The Finns-voting northern parts of Nurmijärvi are joined here by the western... third or so of Hyvinkää, a railway town that would be big enough for two seats by itself. Hence the somewhat awkward numbers in this part of the region. While Hyvinkää is pretty solidly red, its outlying areas are less so, and combined with the areas from Nurmijärvi I believe that would be enough to hand the seat to the Finns.
51: Hyvinkää East (Itä-Hyvinkää, Hyvinge Östra)
25,656 (+4,422)
...yeah. I may end up revisiting these boundaries and giving some border areas to Mäntsälä, because this is just clearly not a feasible deviation. I'll blame growth in Hyvinkää for now, although it hasn't been that brutal. Anyway, safe SDP town, safe SDP seat.
52: Järvenpää South (Etelä-Järvenpää, Träskända Södra)
20,069 (-1,165)
Järvenpää/Träskända (both names mean "end/head of the lake") was, to my knowledge, pretty much entirely built to house Karelian evacuees, and its history as a municipality only dates back to 1951. It's grown prodigiously for pretty much its entire history, and today is almost big enough for two constituencies in its own right. This seat includes the town centre and areas east and south, and narrowly comes out for the SDP.
53: Järvenpää North (Pohjois-Järvenpää, Träskända Norra)
24,176 (+2,942)
In addition to the rest of Järvenpää, this seat also includes Jokela and Kellokoski, which are part of Tuusula even though they're "across" Järvenpää from the rest of that municipality. Both villages (Kellokoski especially) are solid Finns territory, and the areas from Järvenpää are good enough for them that I'm comfortable handing them the seat.
54: Tuusula (Tusby)
20,835 (-399)
"Finally", I hear you say, "a seat that's only three figures off quota". Well, rest assured there won't be many more. I'm kind of surprised by how well this seat came together seeing as how it is the last one I drew in the immediate area. Tuusula is famous for the artists' colony that developed along its lakefront in the early 20th century, notably including Jean Sibelius, Aleksis Kivi and Pekka Halonen, but the bulk of its population lives in the town of Hyrylä, which was formerly a garrison town but has since developed into yet another Helsinki exurb. It's a pretty solid Coalition seat, though the Finns have a presence too.
55: Sipoo (Sibbo)
20,514 (-720)
Sipoo, much like Kirkkonummi, was a solidly Swedish-speaking parish before getting overwhelmed by Helsinki's spillover, but unlike Kirkkonummi this process wasn't helped along by forced population movements, so there's still something of a Swedish presence locally - just under forty percent. However, interestingly, the SFP only got about half that amount in this election, so the seat is won by the Coalition even though the SFP usually handily carries areas with this proportion of Swedish-speakers.
56: Porvoo West (Länsi-Porvoo, Borgå Västra)
18,383 (-2,851)
This is the counterpoint to the Hyvinkää seats both being hugely over quota. Anyway, despite being something of a cultural capital for the Swedish-speaking population of Nyland (Runeberg was from here, and it's the seat of Finland's Swedish-speaking Lutheran diocese), Porvoo is a majority Finnish-speaking city today. However, its Finnish-speaking population is pretty closely divided between SDP, Coalition and Finns, which means the SFP come out on top across the city and (I think) in both of the constituencies I've drawn.
57: Porvoo East (Itä-Porvoo, Borgå Östra)
17,626 (-3,608)
See #56, I guess, I don't really have much to say about this constituency specifically. It's probably slightly safer for the SFP than the western seat, if anything.
58: Mäntsälä
20,711 (-523)
Mäntsälä is most notable for the Mäntsälä Rebellion of 1932, which was a botched attempt by Finnish fascists to recreate the March on Rome. While not really a left-wing place, the actual inhabitants of Mäntsälä have tended to favour the Centre rather than overt right-wing extremism, but in this election they did in fact vote for the Finns.
59: Loviisa (Lovisa)
17,934 (-3,300)
I was surprised to find that Loviisa is actually also a Finnish-majority municipality these days. It has Finland's oldest nuclear power station, but doesn't have much else going for it, nor is it close enough to Helsinki to really become a commuter town. Despite its Finnish-speaking majority, the Swedish-speakers are enough of a monolithic voting bloc to hand the seat to the SFP by a wide margin.
Regional subtotal
Finns 5
SFP 5
Coalition 4
SDP 3
National total (thus far)
Coalition 38
SDP 29
Finns 25
Centre 19
SFP 10
Left 2