Regional elections An exceptional number of election officials have fallen ill during the regional elections, the situation in Vantaa and Espoo is even more difficult than in the municipal elections

Unusually a lot of election officials have fallen ill this week, and central election commissions have had to invite a large number of deputies to the election. The actual voting day for the regional elections is Sunday.

Secretary of the Vantaa Central Election Commission Niina Skull reports that there have been daily reports of illness.

“Fortunately, we have collected so many names from our deputies that we have been able to rectify the situation quickly,” says Kolju.

He believes there will be several more opt-out notices during Saturday.

“However, with these prospects, there is no risk that deputies would not be enough,” Kolju assures.

Also In Espoo, numerous election officials have announced their absence. The situation in both Vantaa and Espoo is considerably more difficult than during the municipal elections last year.

A large proportion of illnesses and absences are likely to be related to the spread of the coronavirus omicron variant. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Justice instructed municipalities to speed up the coroner vaccinations of election officials.

Read more: Ministry of Justice recommends municipalities to speed up coronation vaccinations for regional election officials

Chairman of the Espoo Central Election Commission Sanna Suvanto says the city was preparing for illnesses with a back-up system.

“The city government has appointed an additional reserve list of election officials that the Central Election Commission can appoint to polling stations where there are abstentions,” Suvanto says.

Suvanto believes that the full picture of the diseases will not be visible until Saturday.

“On Saturday, polling station officials will pick up voting materials from the Central Election Commission and hold an inaugural meeting. After that, we know about possible additional dropouts, ”says Suvanto.

An exceptional number of illnesses have also been recorded in Tampere and Oulu.

However, less than ten cancellations have been received by the Oulu Central Election Commission. The board has appointed deputies in case of illness.

“Now it looks good that there have been no more cancellations according to yesterday’s data. Now we have to keep our fingers crossed so that there will be no cancellations in the last drop, ”Chairman of the Oulu Central Election Commission Kaisu Tuomi says.

In Vantaa the counting of votes will be performed this time in Korso, a multipurpose center in Lumo. Its gym has enough space for about 90 tellers.

“The tellers will fit in the hall so that we can take into account the safety intervals,” says Kolju of the Central Election Commission.

In Espoo, too, the counting of votes has been moved to the largest possible space. Sanna Suvanto says that a large number of tellers were already in the municipal elections last year, so they are familiar with the arrangement.

Voting day safety guidelines don’t really differ from last year’s municipal election guidelines. According to the election instructions, foreign voting can be considered, but according to Suvanto, the decision on this will be left to the discretion of the officials of each polling station.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute forecasts frost weather for almost the entire country on Sunday. In western Finland, the temperature is at zero, while elsewhere in the country the maximum temperature is five degrees.

Voters in quarantine or isolation will be given the opportunity to vote out if necessary.

“A person can agree in advance that they will vote for their car. This requires contacting us in advance, ”says Suvanto.

Is it possible that illnesses slow down the completion of the counting of votes?

“It’s the worst fear, of course. We also have some deputies in use for counting votes, ”says Suvanto.