Finland

Abstract

Finland is a Republic according to the Constitutional Law of July 17, 1919 From 1800 Finland was united to the Russian Empire as an autonomous Grand-Duchy. On December 6, 1917, the House of Representatives unanimously proclaimed Finland an independent and sovereign State, and she has been recognised as such by the Powers. According to the Constitutional Law of 1906, the House of Representatives consists of one Chamber of 200 members chosen by direct and proportional election, in which all who are entitled to vote have an equal vote. The suffrage is possessed, with the usual exceptions, by every Finnish citizen (man or woman) who has reached his or her 24th year. There are 16 electoral districts with a representation proportioned to the population, a rearrangement being required every 10 years. Each district is divided into voting circuits. The voting system, devised with a view to proportional representation, provides for the formation of voters’ associations which prepare lists of candidates, the votes for whom are in a falling scale according to the order in which the voter has placed them on the list voted for. There may, within limits, be compacts between associations, and joint candidates may be entered in competing lists, while any voter may either support an association list or vote for any candidate he pleases. Every citizen entitled to vote is eligible to the House of Representatives, which is elected for 3 years.