City Council of Helsinki

The City Council of Helsinki is the main decision-making organ in local politics. Like other Finnish municipalities, it deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport.

The 85-member council is elected every fourth year by municipal elections. The seat of the Council is located in the Helsinki City Hall which is located in the Market Place at the downtown of Helsinki. Historically, the liberal conservative National Coalition Party (kokoomus) has been the largest party in Helsinki's local politics, with the Social Democrats being the second biggest.

The Seat of the Helsinki City Council is located in Helsinki City Hall.

In the 2000 election the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strongest area of support nationally, gained the position of the second most popular party.

In 2004 however, the Social Democrats regained that position. In the 2008 election, the Green League again became the second biggest party, and they remained so in the 2012 election.

The Left Alliance is the fourth largest party, while the True Finns have increased their support steadily to become the fifth largest party. The Swedish People's Party's support has been steadily declining over the years, most likely because of the diminishing proportion of Swedish speakers in Helsinki. The Centre Party of Finland, despite being one of the major parties in nationwide politics, has only limited support in Helsinki like it does in most other large urban areas.

Helsinki mayor Jussi Pajunen (center) with leading city council members Chairman Minerva Krohn (background), Osmo Soininvaara (left), and Arto Bryggare (Right). Portrait of former chairman Alfred Norrmén on the wall.

Seat distribution in the city council

1919–1936

Elections Seats
SDP RKP NCP NPP SWPF
SM		 Other Total
1918 26 22 8 4 60
1919 24 22 8 2 4 60
1920 20 22 7 3 8 60
1921 15 21 8 3 13 60
1922 12 22 9 3 14 60
1923 11 23 10 3 13 60
1924 11 24 11 3 11 60
1925 12 20 11 4 9 3 59
1928 13 18 9 5 10 4 59
1930 22 16 13 4 4 59
1933 23 15 11 6 4 59
1936 24 15 12 5 3 59
Source: Helsinki City Statistics[1]

1945–2017

Elections Seat Activity %
NCP SDP FPDL
Left Alliance		 RKP NPP CDP
KD		 Center SMP
True Finns		 CRP
CPP		 Greens H2000 Independents Communist Other Total
1945 14 11 15 12 6 1 59
1947 15 15 11 12 5 1a 59
1950 16 19 15 13 8 71
1953 15 18 15 13 10 71
1956 18 19 15 14 11 77
1960 21 16 15 13 9 3 77
1964 21 21 14 11 7 3 77
1968 21 21 11 10 8 -- 1 4 1b 77
1972 21 25 12 9 6 2 1 1 77
1976 22 22 15 10 6 3 3 -- 4 -- 85
1980 28 23 14 7 3 3 2 1 3 1c 85
1984 26 19 9 8 3 2 3 2 7 4 2d 85
1988 27 21 7 8 -- 2 4 1 1 7 3 4e 85
1992 21 21 7 8 1 2 3 -- 1f 15 4 2 -- 85
1996 24 21 6 8 -- 2 3 -- 16 1 4g 85
2000 25 18 7 6 3 4 21 1 -- -- 85
2004 25 21 8 6 -- 2 4 1 17 1 -- 85 57.1 %
2008 26 16 7 5 2 3 4 21 1 -- 85 58.9 %
2012 23 15 9 5 2 3 8 19 1 -- 85 57.4 %
2017 25 12 10 5 2 2 6 21 2h 85 61.8 %
a Radical People's Party
b Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders
c Helsinki Movement (Ville Komsi)[2]
d Democratic Helsinki Movement
e Democratic Alternative (2 councilors), Citizens Movement (2 councilors)
f Constitutional Right
g Young Finns
h Feminist Party (1 councilor), Pirate Party (1 councilor)[3]
Source: Statistics Bureau of Finland,[4][5] Minister of Justice[6] & Helsinki City Statistics[1]

Chairmen of the City Council

Deputy Chairman

City Manager

The City Manager of Helsinki is appointed by the city council. The last holder of the post is Jussi Pajunen. He was appointed for two 7-year terms, starting June 1, 2005. Pajunen was a member of the city council for 8 years, and was the chairman of the city board in 2003-2005. According to local media, the three biggest parties in the council had agreed in the wake of the October 2004 municipal election that the mayor's seat would go to the Coalition party. The position of City Manager was abolished in June 2017 and the position of Mayor was created.

List

City Manager Term Party
Arthur Castrén 1921–1930 Young Finnish Party
Antti Tulenheimo 1931–1944 National Coalition Party
Eero Rydman 1944–1956 National Progressive Party
Lauri Aho 1956–1968 National Coalition Party
Teuvo Aura 1968–1979 Liberal People's Party
Raimo Ilaskivi 1979–1991 National Coalition Party
Kari Rahkamo 1991–1996 National Coalition Party
Eva-Riitta Siitonen 1996–2005 National Coalition Party
Jussi Pajunen 2005–2017 National Coalition Party

Mayor

The position of Mayor of Helsinki was created when the position of City Manager of Helsinki was abolished in June 2017. The first and current holder of the post is Jan Vapaavuori. Vapaavuori has been a Helsinki City Council member 1997-2007 and 2017-. He has been a member of the Parliament since 2003, from the constituency of Helsinki, and he represents the National Coalition Party. From 2011 to 2012 he was the chairman of the party's parliamentary group. Vapaavuori was elected Mayor of Helsinki in 2017. His term started on 7 June 2017.

List

Mayor Term Party
Jan Vapaavuori 2017– National Coalition Party

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Finnish municipal elections, Helsingissä vuonna 2008 Statistics 2008, 43 Helsinki City Statistics
  2. ↑ http://www.helsinginvihreat.fi/historiaa Helsingin Vihreät 29 June 2007
  3. ↑ Kunnallisvaalien vaalitulos puolueittain ja muutokset verrattuna edellisiin vaaleihin / Helsinki Archived August 27, 2002, at the Wayback Machine. (Oikeusministeriö)
  4. ↑ 29 B, 3-4 (Statistics Bureau) (years 1968-1972); Tilastokeskuksen PX-Web-tietokannat: Finnish municipal elections, 1976-2004 (Statistics 2008) (years 1976-2004)
  5. ↑ Finnish municipal elections, 1988 (Statistics 1989), s. 36–37, 178.
  6. ↑ Finnish municipal elections, 1996 (Minister of Justice 1997) Finnish municipal elections, 2000 (Minister of Justice 2000); Finnish municipal elections, 2004 (Minister of Justice 2004); Finnish municipal elections, 2008 (Minister of Justice 30.10.2008; Finnish municipal elections, 2012 (Minister of Justice 1.11.2012); Finnish municipal elections, 2017 (Minister of Justice 13.4.2017)
  7. ↑ Adliga ätten nr 260 LINDELÖF
  8. ↑ Jälkeläistaulut – Schultén af, Maximus Widekind
  9. ↑ "Mari Puoskari Helsingin valtuuston puheenjohtajaksi, Emma Kari vihreän valtuustoryhmän johtoon". Helsingin Vihreät. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  10. 1 2 Kukkiva asfaltti, hiukan nostalginen albumi (2001, Pentti Poukka)
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