Puolueen ja edustajaehdokkaan painottuminen äänestyspäätöksissä

Authors

• Pertti Pesonen

Abstract

In addition to their party choice, Finnish voters need to make another voting decision. Their party preference is indicated through a ballot that is cast for only one individual candidate, and these personal votes rank-order the names on the party lists. Because proportional representation is based on the distribution of votes among the parties, the choice of a party is the principal voting decision, and the choice of an individual candidate occupies only secondary importance. However, the number of voters who consider their candidate choice more important has increased steadily since 1958. In the 1991 general election, that number rose to 43 per cent among all the voters, and to 53 per cent among young voters. The weaker the voters’ party identification, the more weight they put on the candidate. Of the different party groups, the most deviant were the supporters of the Greens, who emphasized their party, and the Rural Party voters, who emphasized their individual candidates. Prior to the election year (and to the formal nomination of candidates), only 22 per cent of the voters knew for which candidate they would vote, but 60 per cent already knew what their party would be. The constant voters tended to emphasize their choice of a party, whereas the floating voters considered their candidate choice more important. In 1991, for the first time, a clear majority of Finland’s women voters cast their ballots for female candidates, and the percentage of men voting for a female candidate rose to 25 per cent. Party affiliation was more important to women who voted for a female candidate than to women who voted for a male candidate.