One third of voters have already cast their ballots

Almost 1.5 million people, a third of Finnish residents eligible to vote in the June municipal elections have already cast their ballots in advance.

The official voting day is Sunday 13 June.

According to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Justice four days before the election day, more than 1,470,000 votes were cast in advance in the 2021 municipal elections.

"This means that approximately 33 per cent of all eligible voters voted in advance," the Ministry adds.

These figures will be specified once the advance votes cast abroad have been added to the register.

Early voting increased

In the midst of the pandemic and with the Finnish government embroiled in higher than usual levels of controversy, early voting has increased considerably in these elections.

In the previous municipal elections in 2017, the corresponding figure at the end of the advance voting period was approximately 26.3% and the final advance voter turnout was 26.6%.