In the second round of presidential election, 62,294 people vote at advance polling stations abroad

In the second round of the presidential election, a total of 62,294 people cast their vote in advance at Finland’s missions abroad. Altogether 220 crew members voted on board Finnish vessels.

The number of advance voters increased by 6 per cent in comparison to the first round when 58,754 people cast their vote.  In the 2018 presidential election, a total of 52,834 people voted abroad at Finnish missions and on board vessels. This year, advance voting for the presidential election was arranged in 89 countries, which together had 219 polling stations. The figure includes the peacekeeping stations in Lebanon and Iraq. In addition, advance voting was arranged on board 50 Finnish vessels.

According to the Population Register Centre, over 263,000 persons with a permanent residence abroad were eligible to vote in this year’s elections. In addition, eligible voters staying abroad on a temporary basis had the right to vote at Finland’s missions.

Finns who permanently or temporarily reside or stay abroad have been able to vote by post since the 2019 parliamentary elections. Postal voting is now possible for the first time in the presidential election. Over 10,000 voters ordered the postal voting documents. In the first round of voting, 4,091 postal votes arrived in Finland. The data for the second round of voting are not yet available. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for organising and communicating about postal voting.

As in the first round, voter turnout was the highest in Sweden, where 15,602 votes were cast. Spain saw the second highest turnout with 13,564 voters, followed by the United States (3383 voters), the United Kingdom (3170 voters) and Germany (2858 voters).

By far the busiest polling station abroad was in Stockholm with 6,026 voters. The three polling stations in Costa del Sol, Spain, also saw more voters than in the first round, a total of 6,535 voters. In the four polling stations in the Canary Islands, 3,941 votes were cast. In London, 2,129 people voted.