A 19-member delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, led by Gobnait Ni Mhuimneacain (Ireland, ILDG), will carry out an election observation mission from 11 to 14 April 2025 to observe the county and municipal council elections held throughout Finland on 13 April.
Prior to the election day, the delegation will meet representatives of the election administration, State Secretary to the Ministry for Local and Regional Government Kristina Kokko and outgoing Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen as well as members of the diplomatic corps and of the delegation of Finland to the Congress. It will also hold exchanges of views with representatives of the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities, local NGOs, the media as well as various political parties and candidates running in the elections.
On election day, nine Congress teams will be deployed throughout the country to observe the election procedures in randomly selected polling stations.
Following the mission, a statement of preliminary conclusions will be released by the Head of Delegation on the Congress website on 14 April 2025.
Congress Delegation
Congress members
Ms Gobnait NI MHUIMNEACAIN, Ireland (ILDG), Head of Delegation
Mr Kristoffer TAMSONS, Sweden (EPP/CCE), Deputy Head of Delegation
Ms Rachel BAILEY, United Kingdom (ECR)
Mr Zdenek BROZ, Czechia (ILDG)
Ms Jacqueline FEHR, Switzerland (SOC/G/PD)
Mr Zana GÜMÜŞ, Türkiye (SOC/G/PD)
Mr Toralf HEIMDAL, Norway (ILDG)
Mr Konstantinos KOUKAS, Greece (EPP/CCE)
Ms Mélanie LEPOULTIER, France (ILDG)
Mr Dominique LEVÊQUE, France (SOC/G/PD)
Ms Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM, Austria (SOC/G/PD)
Mr Tony Chris SCHULENBURG, Germany (EPP/CCE)
Ms Tamara SNOFL, Slovenia (SOC/G/PD)
Ms Iuliia VUSENKO, Ukraine (EPP/CCE)
Partner for Local Democracy of the Congress
Mr Abdelaziz DEROUICHE, President of the Prefectoral Council of Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco
Expert
Ms Nathania TABONE, Congress expert on electoral matters
Contact: Stéphanie Poirel, Tel: +33 (0) 3 90 21 51 84
Congress webpage on the observation of local and regional elections
