This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Åland |
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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.
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 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 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.
The 30 members of the Parliament of Åland were elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. [1]
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.
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.
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.
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.
Date | Polling agency | ÅC | LÅ | MS | ÅS | ÅF | ObS | ÅD |
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25 September 2015 | Ålandstidningen | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Party | Votes | +/– | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberals for Åland | 3,212 | +592 | 23.3 | +3.0 | 7 | +1 |
Åland Centre | 2,985 | –83 | 21.7 | –1.9 | 7 | 0 |
Moderate Coalition for Åland | 2,453 | +643 | 17.8 | +3.9 | 5 | +1 |
Åland Social Democrats | 2,184 | –220 | 17.4 | –1.1 | 5 | –1 |
Non-aligned Coalition | 1,323 | –316 | 9.6 | –3.0 | 3 | –1 |
Future of Åland | 1,016 | –270 | 7.4 | –2.5 | 2 | –1 |
Ålandic Democracy | 500 | New | 3.6 | New | 1 | New |
Sustainable Initiative | 112 | New | 0.8 | New | 0 | New |
Total | 14,338 | 100 | 30 | 0 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 70.30 | – | – | – | ||
Sources Lagtings- och kommunalval på Åland 2015 |
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