Advertising for regional and municipal elections is so abundant across Finland right now that no one can really say they didn't know the elections were coming. What is worrying is that after the failure of the nomination process (read: not enough candidates were brought forward), voter turnout in both elections will drop even further.
In local elections, people often vote for what is familiar or at least remotely seems familiar, and as the number of candidates decreases, so do the familiar voters. This has been reported in various media outlets: in the run-up to the election, people no longer know what the significance of the various elections is and what the people elected in them will even decide. The entire new regional administration seems unclear, and municipal decision-making seems like a chore (read: school menus) or distant (read: goals for the 2040s).
Can decision-makers, or especially the local media, raise issues in a way that sufficiently highlights the background and consequences? Can they articulate the concrete benefits of zoning decisions or the importance of supplementary construction for the local natural environment in a way that more people understand what the decisions are about? Often, both political parties and the media's reporting remains at the level of lifestyle stories. Is that partly an underestimation of local people?
According to the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, municipal investments in 2023 were approximately 4,6 billion euros, or seven percent of all investments in Finland. Municipal investments have grown continuously since the financial crisis, except in 2022 due to the social and health care reform. Investments have focused mainly on buildings, such as schools and daycare centers, as well as roads and water and sewage networks.
But the previous municipal elections four years ago saw many municipalities go into a completely different economic situation, both locally and globally. Now, many municipalities are having to think more and more about how to solve the challenges of the operating economy and investment needs. At the same time, municipalities have a huge debt for the repair of premises and buildings, estimated at around four billion euros. In addition to the debt for the repair of buildings, the debt for the repair of basic infrastructure can be estimated at around 3–4 billion euros.
How does this relate to voting? In that the parties are different. Especially in larger cities, the priorities and priorities of different candidates can also be very different. Planning, land use and investments are not really discussed in the election campaigns – perhaps with the exception of superficial talk about affordable housing. Or about the local nature that construction is seen to threaten.
I am aware that since the birth of my children, I have been following issues related to daycare centers and schools more than the aforementioned investments and repair debt. In other words, I follow the issues that seem important to me at the moment in the municipal elections.
On the other hand, intellectual questions related to construction do not really come up in the election machines either. Investments and construction seem like things that just happen. And perhaps I trust that my work ethic will somehow make decision-makers realize that investments and growth should not be stopped in municipalities, even if the economic situation is challenging. Or that properly implemented complementary construction saves the local nature for all of us and not vice versa.
The entire construction industry should remind ourselves and decision-makers better of the enormous importance of the industry and the entire built environment in terms of the availability of basic services and the smooth running of everyday life. We build homes, daycare centers, schools, health centers and parks. We repair streets and build shopping centers. And these things, if any, have enormous significance in regional and municipal elections. Because a city that is built well, does well.
The article has been published in the Näkökulma column of Rakennuslehti.
Lauri Pakkanen
Public Affairs Manager
lauri.pakkanen@rt.fi + 358 50 522 7797Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)
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