Those who voted in Pihilajamäki complained about the flat election atmosphere. For many, the decision to vote had already been made some time ago.
Helsinki The early voting place in the Pihlajamäki neighborhood is at the local youth center behind the shopping center. The polling place is small and sympathetic: one room can accommodate two voting booths, an urn and two election officials, as well as a few voters at a time.
A little before ten o'clock, the doors of the room are still locked, and the election officials are visiting Jyrki Haapala with management through last minute adjustments. Through the glass windows, you can see that a line is gradually building up in the vestibule of the youth center.
Petteri Kamppinen and Anton Lagerstedt get advantages, because they are from DigiHelsing, a company that produces digital services owned by the city. They test that all electronic connections work, and they do it by actually voting in advance at exactly 10 o'clock.
Election official Carolina Ollberg drops the ballot in the envelope into the urn. Petteri Kamppinen was the first early voter.
All works as it should, and early voting gets going. Alisa Oesch is on duty at the door of the room, asks to show an ID and gives a ballot. Someone is trying to force a Kela card in vain – it won't work, you have to have a picture.
There are fifteen voters in the queue, mostly from the older population. As a clerk, Jyrki Haapala has experience with the course of the day: the first hour is lively, then it quietens down to speed up again at lunch time, and the next peak is after the work day. The polling place is open until 18:00 on Wednesday.
The opening hours of advance voting locations in Helsinki vary slightly. In Pihilajamäki, the longest days are only next week on Monday and Tuesday, when the polling place is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting places and opening hours can be found, for example, on the website of the city of Helsinki.
Alice Oesch adjusts at the door so that the room does not get too full.
“Here you have to wait a while. Now the booths are full and there's a small queue,” he says to the visitors.
Marko and Anneli Forsman ended up voting for the same candidate.
Those who have completed their civic duty Anneli and Marko Forsman always vote in advance to get the matter off the agenda in good time. They say they ended up with the same candidate.
“Well, I can say that. Jussi Halla-aho“, says Marko Forsman. “I have been following the situation for a long time, and he is honest. He promotes Finland's cause. Others are running a bit like the European cause, and that's not good.”
“We don't vote for a party, we vote for a person,” says Anneli Forsman as the couple's principle.
What if the candidate who got the vote now doesn't make it to the second round, how is the couple going to act then?
“Probably you won't vote if there aren't people who want to vote,” says Anneli Forsman.
Queue at Pihlajamäki's early voting place on Wednesday morning.
Other Those who voted in Pihilajamäki do not say their candidate, but they do say their selection criteria.
Juhani on Muuriaisniemi was the one and only candidate that came into question. The alternate candidate is if the chosen one does not happen to make it to the next round.
“It has been known for ages, not a momentary consideration. I've been watching the election debates with great interest, but it's been flat as a whole.”
According to Muuriaisniemi's experience, the queues in Pihlajamäki can be even longer on the actual election day, so voting in advance is faster. And you don't even know the weather in winter.
Juha Muuriaisniemi has considered the campaign period to be flat.
Jussi Kananoja prefers to vote in advance, because according to experience, all kinds of surprises always happen that can hinder voting on the actual election day.
Also Jussi Kananoja says that he already thought about the presidential elections and his own voting criteria in the summer.
“Everything is good this time. I wanted to be as similar as possible to the previous president. It wasn't the same, but let's keep the same style.”
For Ulla Solastie, it is important that the candidate thinks about Finland's interests and presents himself firmly.
Ulla Solastie had still had time to watch Ilta-Sanomi's election debate on television on Tuesday, which confirmed his choice. He ended up with a candidate who, according to his description, is tough, dares to speak his mind and think about Finland's interests.
However, Solastie reminds that the president alone is not responsible.
It's wonderful to vote in advance for Eeva Kuittisen.
Eeva Kuittinen did thorough ground work before the voting decision, browsed social media and tried the voting machine. Early voting is “wonderful” for him, even to the point that he sometimes goes to a polling station that he would otherwise not go to.
The candidate started to be clear some time ago, but Kuittinen says that he still looked at the positions and backgrounds of all the candidates and made a comparison. For Kuttinen, it is important that the candidate is calm and that he does not provoke others too much.
“And so I decided to keep my head down and vote for him, which I had already decided on before. He lived up to what I want in a president. In the parliamentary elections, I voted for a completely different party.”
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