Regional elections HS explains: Basic Finnish candidates have received the highest number of criminal charges – Assault is the most common prosecution in welfare elections

Basic Finns Regional election candidates have received more than twice as many criminal charges as candidates from other large parties, says Helsingin Sanomat’s report.

The clear difference between basic Finns and candidates from other parties is remained at the same level as in the 2017 and 2021 municipal elections.

At the same time, the ranks of candidates in all parties have cleaned up: the parties have taken fewer and fewer politicians who have come into contact with the police.

This became clear when HS went through the recent criminal charges against Finland’s first regional election candidates. Included in the report are charges brought by the end of 2021 for more than five years.

According to the study, 6.3 per cent of basic Finns running in regional elections have received one or more charges in 2016–2021.

The share of those who were prosecuted during last year’s municipal elections on the lists of basic Finns was 8.2 per cent.

Second the candidates of the Left Alliance have been brought to justice the most, with 3.0 per cent of the candidates having received one or more charges, compared to 4.1 per cent in the municipal elections.

Third is the Christian Democrats, where the corresponding figures are 2.4 per cent in 2021 and 2.2 per cent this year.

On average, 2.6 per cent of all large party candidates have been prosecuted or multiple. The proportion of those prosecuted without basic Finns is 1.8 per cent.

Charge is not the same as the verdict, as district courts dismiss an average of five percent of charges. However, about 95 percent of the charges filed lead to a verdict.

Prior to the prosecution, the criminal case has been investigated by the police, who have referred the case to the prosecutor, who in turn has assessed that the criminal charge exceeds the prosecution threshold.

The courts ultimately decide guilt or innocence. Not all of the charges in this case have therefore led to a verdict.

The attached HS search engine shows which crimes the regional election candidates of the big parties have been prosecuted in 2016–2021. First select the party, then the number of charges received by the candidates for the different types of crime will be displayed.

The analysis of criminal charges is the only way to go through the backgrounds of the entire 10,584 candidates in the period between the nomination and the election. The HS research method also treats candidates from all parties in the same way.

Least candidates from the Swedish People’s Party and the Greens have been charged. The RKP’s nomination suffered a collapse in the 2021 municipal elections, among other things due to drug convictions, but in the regional elections, the party has intensified the screening of elections.

Of this year’s regional elections, 0.7 per cent of the NCC candidates have been prosecuted, compared with 2.1 per cent in 2021. 0.8 per cent of green candidates have come into contact with the police, compared with 2.0 per cent in the last municipal election.

Rkp: n among other things, the candidate material of other big parties has cleaned up. Basic Finns in the prosecution have the largest decrease in percentage points.

The media investigated the prosecution and criminal backgrounds of the candidates during the summer 2021 municipal elections and published the names of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes.

Read more: Four municipal election candidates convicted of sexual offenses against a child – authors on basic Finnish and Coalition Party lists

There were no recent convictions for child sexual abuse or other serious sexual offenses in 2016–2021, as was the case in the regional elections. In 2006, one candidate was convicted of the sexual exploitation of a child and young person by a close relative as a young person.

Average the proportion of prosecuted candidates has thus fallen between the 2021 municipal elections and the 2022 regional elections, from 3.7 per cent to 2.6 per cent. HS has told the candidates criminal charges received and judgments also in previous elections from 2017 onwards.

After the 2017 municipal elections, a discussion arose about the criminal backgrounds of the candidates and municipal decision-makers. Minister of Justice of the previous government Antti Häkkänen (kok) was concerned about the hidden crimes of municipal decision-makers and demanded that they be communicated to voters in advance.

However, the parties and candidates have not done so in practice, and the work has been left to the media.

Candidates compared to the number, the number of those charged is small, less than three per cent of the population surveyed. The candidates are thus slightly more impeccable than the Finnish population on average, as at the same time an average of five per cent of the total population has been prosecuted.

This is to be expected, as those in prisons or other closed institutions who have accumulated a lot of charges are practically not eligible for the election.

Enlarge Of the parties, only basic Finnish candidates have a higher proportion of those prosecuted than the national average.

There are two parties in Parliament, represented by one MP. Movement Now, of the 345 candidates, 6.1 percent of candidates have a recent criminal charge.

Of the 204 candidates in power, the party has been prosecuted by 7.4 per cent. That is the largest number of parliamentary parties. Among them is the first politician in Finland to be charged with refusing a corona test.

Read more: First politician accused of refusing corona test – “I refused to stick”

Regional election candidates the criminal charges they receive focus on men. 79 percent of those charged with the investigation are men, compared to 55 percent of all candidates.

If a regional election candidate has been brought to justice, he or she has most likely been charged with assault. Those accused of assault are also candidates in elections to elect regional councils for welfare areas to provide health care.

Assault charges have focused on basic Finns, as 20 of the 45 assault prosecutions received by candidates from large parties have been delivered as a challenge to basic Finnish candidates. While basic Finns account for 16 per cent of the regional election candidates in the big parties, they receive 44 per cent of the assault charges they received.

For example, groups of candidates from the Left Alliance and the Center have each received three assaults in the same period, accounting for seven percent of all assaults. The Left Alliance accounts for 12 per cent of all candidates and the Coalition Party for 17 per cent.

The search engine below shows which crimes the regional election candidates of the big parties have been charged in 2016–2021. First select the type of crime, after which the number of charges received by the party candidates for the different types of crime will be displayed.

Here The ratios presented in the HS comparison refer to large parties with 9,789 candidates out of a total of 10,584 candidates in the regional elections.

The second most common reason for going to court is aggravated drink-driving and the third most common cause of traffic offenses, according to the HS report.

Basic Finns account for 28 per cent of all charges of drunk driving. Next are the Left Alliance (22 per cent) and the Center (16 per cent).

One the type of prosecution is almost entirely under the control of basic Finnish candidates. Basic Finnish regional election candidates have received six charges of incitement against a group of people, with a total of seven indictments for this type of crime among the major parties.

An exception in this series is the Christian Democrat regional election candidate Päivi Räsänen. The prosecutor has charged him with three incitements against ethnic groups. They are due to be discussed in court in late January, ie only after the regional elections. It will then be determined whether he will be sentenced.

Even closer to the solution is the charge related to the charge of a municipal politician in Vantaa and a candidate for regional elections for a serious financial crime. A Coalition member of the Audit Committee that inspects Vantaa’s finances and administration is charged with gross embezzlement.

The Länsi-Uusimaa District Court is due to rule on the matter on Wednesday.