There are no plans to extend the advance voting time, as we did last spring, and there will be no masking of polling stations.
Regional elections it is no longer possible in practice to transfer, says the election director of the Ministry of Justice Arto Jääskeläinen.
Although coronary situation According to Jääskeläinen, the postponement of the elections would not have worsened in Finland, as vaccination coverage in Finland is over 80 per cent.
“There has been no discussion about the transfer, meaning these elections are not scheduled to be postponed,” he told reporters at an event on Tuesday.
Municipal elections was transferred last spring. The background was the dramatic calculation by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) of the corona epidemic possible acceleration up to 11,000 infections a day. Norway is now being evaluatedthat due to the omicron transformation, there could soon be up to 300,000 infections a day.
Jääskeläinen According to him, the situation in Finland is different compared to last spring, because vaccination coverage is at a completely different level. Postponing the election would require a change in the law.
“The last move was deemed necessary, but it was done too late. Now the schedule has already been exceeded “, Jääskeläinen says.
It was decided to postpone the municipal elections last spring for about six weeks before they were originally scheduled to take place.
There are less than six weeks left for regional elections. They will be held on January 23 everywhere except Helsinki and Åland.
Today, Tuesday, the deadline for parties and constituency associations to submit applications for regional elections to the regional election commissions expires.
Jääskeläinen believes that the elections can be organized well and in a safe manner. THL has estimated that in the current situation, the voter risk of infection is low.
At polling stations There are many health security measures familiar from municipal elections.
No masking is required at polling stations and no corona passport will be required when voting, says the negotiating official Heini Huotarinen from the Ministry of Justice.
According to him, the municipal elections went well from the point of view of health security. There were no chains of infection, and the disease situation did not stop people from voting.
In the regional elections According to Huotarinen, there will not be as many foreign polling stations as in the municipal elections. This time, too, the advance voting period is not going to be extended, as in the municipal elections.
According to Jääskeläinen, advance voting will not be extended for three reasons. First, the extension cost municipalities a lot, but still did not prevent final-stage congestion at polling stations. Second, it was difficult for candidates to target advertising for such a long time. Thirdly, if the advance voting were to be extended to two weeks, it would already begin around Epiphany, and the campaign period would be short.
Advance voting will begin in the regional elections on 12 January.
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