 Intercultural Municipal Elections 9 April (advance voting 29 March - 4 April)The point of the municipal elections is to elect councillors to serve in the various municipal councils. The municipalities have a great deal of power and, therefore, so do the elected councillors who make important decisions. Their decisions concern, for example, the environment in which we live and the services needed to prevent exclusion. The municipalities are responsible for providing early care and education, and the elected councillors have multiple opportunities to advance the well-being of intercultural and bilingual families. Voting is the only way to have influence on the issues that are important to you. Learn about your candidates, contact them and use your vote! Remember that you don’t need a Finnish passport, because foreign citizens also have the right to vote. Learn about the candidates!What are the important issues for you and your family? Do the candidates in your municipality have any personal experience regarding intercultural life? What issues are the candidates promoting and what is important to them? Make contact and ask questions! Ask, for example, how the candidates plan to consider intercultural children and families in their decision-making. And how might the municipal services be organised so that they would better meet the needs of all types of families and diverse life situations? You have a voice, use it and vote!Your vote in the municipal elections has more of an influence on your life and living environment than any other type of election. Your councilmembers have the ability, for example, to ensure that a child’s language and cultural background is taken into consideration in his/her education and early care. Who can vote?Foreign nationals can also vote! You have the right to vote if you are a citizen of Finland, another EU Member State, Norway or Iceland, and you have established a municipality of residence in Finland no later than on 17.2.2017, or if you are a citizen of any other country and you have had a municipality of residence in Finland for an uninterrupted period of at least two years. When and where can I vote?ADVANCE VOTING 29 March - 4 April 2017 Advance voting will take place in Finland from 29 March to 4 April and abroad from 29 March to 1 April 2017. You can cast your vote at any of the advance voting stations in Finland and abroad. Finland has a total of 894 general advance voting stations located in, for example, municipal offices, shopping centres, libraries, citizen service offices and post offices. ELECTION DAY 9 April 2017 Municipal elections are held every four years. The next official election day will be on Sunday, 9 April 2017. On election day, the voting stations are open from 9 am to 8 pm, and you can only cast your vote at the polling station indicated in the polling card that was mailed to your home address in advance. A passport or some other official ID must be presented at the polling station. The notice of right to vote (polling card) may be displayed but voting is possible also without presenting it. Hanna Kinnunen Communications and Training Officer, Senior Expert (contact details) Comments are closed.
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