County elections, i.e. social- and healthcare elections or wellbeing elections, are elections in which 21 different county councils are elected. County councils decide on matters related to social and healthcare, such as social assistance, mental health services, prenatal clinics and specialised health care. In the future, wellbeing services counties will also provide health and wellbeing services for international students.
Thus, in the future, instead of municipal councils, county councils will decide on wellbeing services, which, of course, involves not only the services themselves but also their financing. In the municipal elections of 2021, young people voted less than all other age groups. It is a threat that the voices of students will not be heard in the county elections, where decisions that affect students are widely decided. By voting in the county elections, you can promote adequate support services, immediate access to therapy (Terapiatakuu) and more accessible healthcare, as well as specialised health care.
County elections will not be held in Helsinki, as Helsinki is independently responsible for providing wellbeing services. However, voting is possible in Helsinki if you are entitled to vote as a resident of some other county. Wellbeing services counties mainly follow the boundaries of the provinces, but the province of Uusimaa is exceptionally divided into four different counties.
Wellbeing services counties in Uusimaa:
- East Uusimaa, which consists of the municipalities of Askola, Lapinjärvi, Loviisa, Myrskylä, Porvoo, Pukkila and Sipoo.
- Central Uusimaa, which consists of the municipalities of Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Nurmijärvi, Mäntsälä, Tuusula and Pornainen.
- West Uusimaa, consisting of the municipalities of Espoo, Hanko, Inkoo, Karkkila, Kauniainen, Kirkkonummi, Lohja, Raseborg, Siuntio and Vihti.
- Vantaa-Kerava, which consists of the cities of Vantaa and Kerava.
In the future, the county elections will take place as part of the municipal elections, so now is a truly unique opportunity to vote and make the voices of the students heard!
You can vote in advance in Finland 12.-18.1. and abroad 12.-15.1.
County councils decide on issues related to the financing of health services, so it is important that issues concerning students and the younger generation are not forgotten. When county councils build the governance of the county in their first year of operation, the voice of the students must be represented on the councils.
The blog was written in collaboration with Opku +.
Authors: Janne Levänen (METKA) and Teemu Virtanen (Helga)
In the following blog, we’ll handle the decision-making of regional councils!
This post is also available in Suomi.