Finland is gearing up for a big day at the polls on 13 April, when both the municipal and county elections will be held simultaneously. By casting your ballots, you will get the chance to influence decisions that will shape everyday life for the next four years.
Yle has separate compasses for each election, to help voters find candidates who best align with their views.
Check out the Yle election compass here.
The Yle election compass is an interactive tool that matches voters with candidates who share similar positions on key issues. The compass is available in eight languages: English, Finnish, Swedish, Sámi, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, and Somali.
This year, there are 10,097 candidates in the county elections and 29,950 candidates in the municipal elections, according to the Ministry of Justice. With so many options, the election compass can help narrow down your choices.
A recent All Points North podcast discusses the growing involvement of foreigners in Finnish politics. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
How does the election compass work?
Yle’s election compass follows a simple principle. Voters choose their home municipality and answer statements on key topics — the tool matches them with candidates who share similar views.
Voter responses are based on a four-point scale: Completely agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, and completely disagree.
The compass compares users' answers to candidates' positions, identifying the closest matches to help voters quickly find candidates who align with their values and policies.
"The closer the answers are to each other, the greater the compatibility. The distance is calculated for each statement answered by the voter. The overall compatibility with each candidate is determined by summing the results of all statements," said Aki Kekäläinen, the lead designer and project manager of the election compass.
Voters can skip statements, and those answers will not be included in the results. Each statement that isn't skipped holds equal weight in the overall comparison.
Election compasses are an important resource for Finnish voters in making their voting decisions. Yle’s election compass first launched in 1996 and has since become a key tool for voters.
More and more people are turning to the election compass for information about candidates, parties, and the political landscape. Especially younger users have expressed a desire for the tool to serve as a more navigable information hub.
As of today, Yle's election compass includes responses from 18,340 candidates to match. New candidates will continue to be added, so it’s worth checking the compass multiple times as the elections approach.
All Points North hosted a discussion forum on Finland's municipal and county council elections, covering the key issues ahead of voting day. You can watch the show here or from the player below.
How do I come to a decision?
There are different ways to use the election compass. The most traditional method is to answer all the statements on key election topics and view the final result. However, voters will likely get a more relevant candidate list by skipping those statements they don’t find as important.
In the result view, voters can also explore candidate profiles and watch the candidates’ self-recorded introductions. The tool also allows users to filter results by party, age, gender, residence, and mother tongue.
Yle also asked candidates about their election promises and comments on what needs to be improved in their municipality or wellbeing area. These details are available in each candidate's profile.
The statements in the election compass were created by a team of Yle journalists, with extensive discussions and feedback rounds involving political figures and researchers across various editorial teams.
Each compass is designed to reflect the distinct responsibilities and focus areas of the respective elections.
It’s important that Finnish voters can find out what candidates think about issues specific to their own municipality or region," said Eevi Kinnunen, who oversees Yle’s regional operations.
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