City Council of Helsinki


The City Council of Helsinki is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport.
The 85-seat Council's members are elected every four years in municipal elections. The seat of the Council is the Helsinki City Hall, which overlooks Market Square in central Helsinki.
Historically, the center-right National Coalition Party has been the largest player in Helsinki's local politics, with the center-left Social Democratic Party being the second largest. In the 2000 election, the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strongest area of support nationally, gained the position of the second most popular party. In 2004, the Social Democrats regained that position. In the 2008 election, the Green League became the second-largest party again, retaining this spot in the 2012 and 2017 elections.
The Left Alliance is the Council's fourth-largest party; the Finns are the fifth-largest. The Swedish People's Party is sixth, with the party's support on a steady decline over the years; this can be attributed to the diminishing proportion of Swedish speakers in Helsinki. The Centre Party, despite being one of the major parties in national politics, has limited support in Helsinki.
' with former leading City Council members Chairman Minerva Krohn ', Osmo Soininvaara ', and Arto Bryggare '. Portrait of former chairman Alfred Norrmén on the wall.

Seat distribution in the Council

1919–1936

1945–

Chairmen of the City Council

The City Manager of Helsinki was appointed by the Council. The last holder of the post was Jussi Pajunen. He was appointed for two 7-year terms, starting 1 June 2005. Pajunen was a member of the Council for 8 years, and was the chairman of the city board in 2003–2005. The position of City Manager was abolished in June 2017 and the position of Mayor was created.

List of City Managers of Helsinki

Mayor

The position of Mayor of Helsinki was created when the position of City Manager of Helsinki was abolished in June 2017. The first and incumbent mayor of Helsinki is Jan Vapaavuori. Vapaavuori has been a Helsinki City Council member in the years 1997-2007 and 2017-. Vapaavuori started his term on 7 June 2017.

List of Mayors of Helsinki