Municipal elections are held to elect the councillors of the municipalities. At the beginning of 2004 there were altogether 428 municipalities in continental Finland and 16 in the Province of Åland. At the beginning of 2005 the number of municipalities in continental Finland was 416.

Municipal elections are held every fourth year on the fourth Sunday of October. The next will be held on 26 October 2008.

The number of councillors elected depends on the population of a municipality. According to Section 10 of the Local Government Act (365/1995) the number of councillors varies as follows:

Population      Councillors

at most 2000      17*
2001 - 4000      21
4001 - 8000      27
8001 - 15000      35
15001 - 30000      43
30001 - 60000      51
60001 - 120000      59
120001 - 250000      67
250001 - 400000      75
more than 400000      85

*the municipality may decide that the number shall be 15 or 13.

In Åland municipal elections are also held every fourth year, but not at the same time as in the rest of Finland; the previous elections were held in 2003 and the next elections will be held in 2007.

Information about the Municipal Elections in Finnish, Swedish, English, Estonian, Russian, Somali, German, Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish and French.