Oulu is an electoral district represented in the Finnish Eduskunta (parliament). It covers the administrative regions of Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, with a combined population of about 459,000 (as of 2002[update]). Oulu currently elects 18 members of the Eduskunta.
The constituency is largely rural, and the major cities are Oulu and Kajaani. The dominant party is the Centre, which has took half of the available seats since 1991.
| Finnish parliamentary election, 2003 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Net Gain/Loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/- | |||
| Centre Party | 9 | 0 | 50.0 | 46.6 | 108,336 | +3.1% | |||
| Left Alliance | 3 | 0 | 16.7 | 15.3 | 35,604 | -1.5% | |||
| Social Democrats | 2 | 0 | 11.1 | 14.0 | 32,601 | +1.0% | |||
| National Coalition Party | 2 | 0 | 11.1 | 9.6 | 22,349 | -1.5% | |||
| Green League | 1 | 0 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 14,077 | +0.2% | |||
| Christian Democrats | 1 | 0 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 12,332 | +3.5% | |||
| Forces for Change in Finland | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2,327 | +1.0% | |||
| other groups | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4,629 | n/a | |||