Ålandic legislative election, 2015

Last updated
Aland coat of arms.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Åland
See also

Legislative elections were held in the Åland Islands on 18 October 2015, alongside elections for 16 municipal councils: [1] Mariehamn town, 9 rural socken on the main island, Fasta Åland, and 6 skerries socken.

Åland Islands autonomous region of Finland

The Åland Islands or Åland is an archipelago province at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea belonging to Finland. It is autonomous, demilitarised and is the only monolingually Swedish-speaking region in Finland. It is the smallest region of Finland, constituting 0.49% of its land area and 0.50% of its population.

Mariehamn Town in Åland, Finland

Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. Like all of Åland, Mariehamn is unilingually Swedish-speaking and around 88% of the inhabitants speak it as their native language.

Socken type of parish in Scandinavian countries

Socken is the name used for a part of a county in Sweden. In Denmark similar areas are known as sogn, in Norway sorn or sokn and in Finland pitäjä/socken. A socken is an area that was previously like a civil parish or an administrative parish. A socken was formerly linked to a parish but is now a traditional area with other borders than those of the original parishes. In some parts of Sweden the use of "socken" as a way to describe an area is more prominent than in others. A socken may also have the same name as a locality or parish.

Contents

Electoral system

The 30 members of the Parliament of Åland were elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. [1]

Parliament of Åland Legislative body of Åland, an autonomous area in Finland

The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Campaign

Seven parties contested the legislative elections, and the municipal elections in most municipalities, although the Liberals for Åland will be the only party to contest all municipalities.

The Liberals for Åland is a liberal political party of the Åland Islands. The party is an observer at Liberal International. In the 2015 legislative elections, the party received the largest number of votes and won 7 out of 30 seats. The current party leader is Katrin Sjögren.

During the 2011–2015 parliamentary term the four MPs from the independent centre-right party Non-aligned Coalition (ObS) merged into the conservative Moderates to become Moderate Coalition for Åland, but the rump of ObS will contest the 2015 elections, and has taken a critical stance against Syrian refugees with a "no to refugees" campaign movie. Another anti-refugee list, the populist Ålandic Democracy, which is led by Stephan Toivonen and also supports equal rights for Finnish speakers, will also be on the ballot.

Non-aligned Coalition is a conservative political party in the Åland Islands. It was founded in 1987. At the 2003 elections, the party won 9.4% of popular votes and 3 out of 30 seats. In the 21 October 2007 parliamentary elections, the party won 11.9% of the popular vote and 4 out of 30 seats. In 2013 it was announced that the party would merge with the Moderates. All of the party's parliament members joined the Moderates to form Moderate Coalition for Åland. However the party survived as one of the original founders Bert Häggblom returned to recreate the party with new members. The party contested in the Ålandic legislative election, 2015 and won 3 seats.

Moderates of Åland

The Moderates of Åland was a conservative and liberal-conservative political party on the Åland Islands. At the 2003 elections, the party won 13.6% of popular votes and 4 out of 30 seats. The current party leader is Johan Ehn. In the 21 October 2007 parliamentary elections, the party won 9.5% of the popular vote and 3 out of 30 seats, a loss of one.

The Moderate Coalition for Åland is a political party in the Åland Islands.

The regionalist and centrist Åland Centre has called for Åland to establish its own foreign ministry and for the Ålandic healthcare board being appointed solely by the governing coalition rather than the existing system of being proportionally divided between parties.

The Åland Centre is an agrarian-centrist political party in the Åland Islands. At the 2003 election, the party won 24.1% of the popular vote and 7 out of 30 seats and became on a par with the Liberals of Åland. On the October 21st, 2007, parliamentary election, the party won 24.2% of the popular vote and 8 out of 30 seats. At the election in 2011 it became the strongest party with 23.6% and 7 out of 30 seats, but lost this position to the Liberals at the election in 2015 with 21.7% and 7 out of 30 seats.

Other parties contesting the elections were the Åland Social Democrats, the social-liberal centre-right Liberals for Åland, the centrist and separatist Future of Åland.

Åland Social Democrats political party

The Åland Social Democrats is a social-democratic political party in the Åland Islands. In the 18 October 2015 parliamentary elections, the party won 17.4% of the popular vote and 5 out of 30 seats, a loss of one.

The Future of Åland is a separatist political party on the Åland Islands. The goal of the party is to make Åland an independent state. At the 2003 elections, the party won 6.5% of popular votes and 2 out of 30 seats. In the 21 October 2007 parliamentary elections, the party won 8.1% of the popular vote and 2 out of 30 seats. In the 2011 elections, the party won 9.7% of the vote and 3 out of 30 seats. In the 2015 elections, the party won 7.4% and 2 seats.

Opinion polls

DatePolling agency ÅC MS ÅS ÅF ObS ÅD
25 September 2015 Ålandstidningen 7764321

Results

PartyVotes+/–%+/–Seats+/–
Liberals for Åland 3,212+59223.3+3.07+1
Åland Centre 2,985–8321.7–1.970
Moderate Coalition for Åland 2,453+64317.8+3.95+1
Åland Social Democrats 2,184–22017.4–1.15–1
Non-aligned Coalition 1,323–3169.6–3.03–1
Future of Åland 1,016–2707.4–2.52–1
Ålandic Democracy 500New3.6New1New
Sustainable Initiative112New0.8New0New
Total14,338100300
Registered voters/turnout70.30
Sources Lagtings- och kommunalval på Åland 2015
Popular vote
Lib
23.3%
C
21.7%
MSÅ
17.8%
Soc
17.4%
OB
9.6%
ÅF
7.4%
ÅD
3.6%
HI
0.8%
Parliamentary seats
Lib
23.3%
C
23.3%
MSÅ
16.7%
Soc
16.7%
OB
10.0%
ÅF
6.7%
ÅD
3.3%

Related Research Articles

The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of the Finnish Defence Forces. Finland's head of government is the Prime Minister, who leads the nation's executive branch, called the Finnish Government. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Finland, and the Government has limited rights to amend or extend legislation. Because the Constitution of Finland vests power to both the President and Government, the President has veto power over parliamentary decisions, although this power can be overruled by a majority vote in the Parliament.

Union for French Democracy political party

The Union for French Democracy was a centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the political right in France. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's 1976 book, Démocratie Française. The party brought together Christian democrats, liberals and radicals, and non-Gaullist conservatives, and described itself as centrist.

Elections in Finland

There are four types of elections in Finland. Each Finnish citizen at least 18 years of age has the right to vote in each of the elections, which decide the following: the president, the parliament, the MEPs, and the municipal and city councils.

Social Democratic Party (Portugal) political party in Portugal

The Social Democratic Party, founded as the Democratic Peoples' Party, is a liberal-conservative and liberal political party in Portugal. Commonly known by its colloquial initials PSD, on ballot papers its initials appear as its official form PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name. Alongside the Socialist Party (PS), the PSD is one of the two major parties in Portuguese politics. Although branded as a social democratic party, the party is in practice a centre-right conservative party.

United New Zealand

United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000.

Elections in Lithuania

Elections in Lithuania gives information on elections and election results in Lithuania.

The Union (Italy) political party

The Union was an heterogenous centre-left political and electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. The Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union also included parties of the radical left, which were not affiliated with The Olive Tree. The Union was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, and former President of the European Commission. Collapsing in the wake of the 2008 Italian political crisis, the alliance was succeeded by the current-day centre-left coalition.

Åland held legislative elections on 17 October 1999. It elected the diet (Lagtinget), which has 30 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation. It was the first election contested by the Åland Centre in which it did not become the largest party, narrowly losing out to the Liberals for Åland.

Åland held legislative elections on 20 October 1979. It elected the diet, which has 30 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation.

The 2007 Åland legislative election was held on 21 October 2007 in the Åland Islands for the Lagting, the regional parliament of Åland. All 30 seats were up for election to four-year terms using proportional representation. The Åland Progress Group did not participate in the elections, as its sole member of the Lagting, Ronald Boman, opted to retire, while a new organisation, the HUT Group, unsuccessfully contested its first election.

Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:

2016 Romanian legislative election elections

Legislative elections were held in Romania on 11 December 2016. They were the first held under a new electoral system adopted in 2015, which saw a return to the proportional electoral system last used in the 2004 elections. The new electoral legislation provides a norm of representation for deputies of 73,000 inhabitants and 168,000 inhabitants for senators, which decreased the number of MPs. A total of 466 parliamentary seats were contested, compared with the 588 parliamentarians elected in 2012. The diaspora was represented by four deputies and two senators, elected by postal vote. The elections saw a turnout of 39.5%, lower than in 2012 but slightly higher than in the 2008 elections.

In politics, centrism—the centre or the center —is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society strongly to either the left or the right.

Johan Ehn Åland island politician

Johan Ehn is a politician in the Åland Islands. He was a member of Moderates of Åland political party, and its leader from 2011. In 2013 the party merged with Non-aligned Coalition to become Moderate Coalition for Åland and Ehn as its leader. After the Ålandic legislative election, 2015 Johan Ehn became the new Speaker of the Parliament of Åland. From 2011-2015 he was in the Government in the position of Minister of Education and Culture.

2017 Norwegian parliamentary election 2017 election for the Norwegian parliament

A parliamentary election was held in Norway on 11 September 2017. The non-socialist parties retained a reduced majority of 88 seats, allowing Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservative-Progress coalition to remain in government. The Liberal Party joined the coalition in January 2018 but it remained a minority cabinet due to the Christian Democratic Party's decision not to join the coalition at that time. The three largest centre-left parties won 79 seats. The Green Party retained its single seat, while the Red Party won its first ever seat.

2015 Swiss federal election election to the federal parliament in Switzerland

Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 18 October 2015 for the National Council and the first round of elections to the Council of States, with runoff elections to the Council of States being held in various cantons until 22 November.

2015 Spanish local elections

The 2015 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect all 67,515 councillors in the 8,122 municipalities of Spain and all 1,040 seats in 38 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities, as well as local elections in the three foral deputations of the Basque Country and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.

References

  1. 1 2 Election on Åland, 18 October 2015 Ålandic Electoral Commission