The 2023 Finnish Sámi parliamentary election took place between 4 September and 2 October 2023 to elect 21 members and four deputy members to the Sámi Parliament of Finland.
Overview
Electoral system
Unlike elections to the Sámi Parliament of Norway, elections to the Sámi Parliament of Finland are non-partisan. Candidates are nominated by voter associations of at least three Sámis who are eligible to vote under the Sámi electoral roll.
The four municipalities of the Sámi Domicile Area elect three members (as well as one deputy member) each: Enontekiö, Utsjoki, Inari and a portion of Sodankylä. The remaining nine members and three deputies are elected among the candidates who received the highest share of the votes, regardless of which municipality they live in or whether they live outside the Sámi homeland.
Procedure
Elections to the Sámi Parliament are administered over a four-week period, beginning on the Monday of the first full week of September. Voting concludes on 2 October 2023.
Voter eligibility and registration
Under Section 3 of the Act on the Sámi Parliament, a person is eligible to register for the Sámi electoral roll if they identify as Sámi and: They, or one of their parents or grandparents was native Sámi speaker, or They are descended from a person in the mountain, forest, or fisher Lapp Sámi register, or At least one of their parents are, was, or could have been, eligible to vote in the elections to the Sámi Parliament of 1995 or the Sámi Council of 1973. Any Sámi wishing to participate in the election had to apply to be entered in to the electoral roll by 31 December 2022 at 4 p.m. local time (EEST).
Campaign
The election comes at a time of tense relations between the Sámi community and the government of Finland. Reforms to the Sámi Parliament Act, which would enshrine the right of the Sámi to self-determination and amend the Sámi heritage requirements for voting in Sámi Parliament elections, had been under consideration for several years but failed to come to fruition. The most recent attempt to reform the act was shot down by the Parliament of Finland's Constitutional Law Committee on 24 February 2023.
Candidates
The final list of candidates was announced at a meeting of the Sámi Assembly Election Board on 9 August. A total of 34 candidates were approved to run in the elections:
Results
Turnout by area
Turnout was highest among voters in Utsjoki and lowest among registered voters outside of Finland.