Hundreds of PAM members standing in the municipal elections – check out their profile!
Voters will for example decide how even the age distribution on councils is in the coming term.
The PAM members who are standing as candidates in the municipal elections are typically female, aged between 36 and 45, work in commerce in Uusimaa and are called Katja. There are candidates for all registered parties, but mostly for the SDP.
People working in service sectors are interested in improving things in their municipality. PAM has asked members who are standing as candidates to let the union know, and by the end of March 320 candidates had reported they are aiming to be in politics as a councillor in their municipality.
PAM is a trade union where a large proportion of members are women and young people. This is also reflected in the PAM members who are candidates in the municipal elections. As yet we do not have the definitive profile of the council candidates in the June elections, but at least compared to the 2017 municipal elections the PAM candidates are younger and there is a higher share of women compared to all candidates.
At the last municipal elections, 40% of all candidates were women, whereas 58% of PAM candidates were women. The average age of PAM candidates is 44, whereas for all candidates at the last elections it was closer to 50.
Three parties dominate
Already at this stage, there are candidates for almost all registered parties. The three parties with the most PAM members on the ballot paper are: SDP (45.5%), Left Alliance (25.6 %) and the Finns Party (9.9%).
5.4% of PAM members reporting their candidacy are standing for the Centre Party and the Greens. In addition, there are also union members standing as candidates for the Swedish People’s Party, Kokoomus, the Christian Democrats, Movement Now and the Feminist Party as well as on independent voter lists.
More women and young people
Currently, municipal councillors are on average older than their local residents, with over-representation of men with higher levels of education and income.
The candidates at the last municipal elections differed from voters in terms of their age and gender structure. The same goes for PAM candidates compared to PAM’s membership.
58% of the PAM candidates are women and 42% are men, but women clearly outnumber men among the membership, with 74% women against 26% men. Of the PAM candidates, there are relatively more men, especially in the youngest and oldest age groups. Among those over 65 years old, men are clearly in the majority.
The youngest candidate is 18 years old, and the oldest is 70. The largest age group among the PAM candidates is 36-45-year-olds. They make up 27% of the candidates. Among all PAM members, on the other hand, around one third are under 31.
Chek out the candidate gallery
The majority of the candidates report that they work in the commerce sector (40%). 17% of the candidates are in the hospitality sector, 6.5% in facility services and 5% in the security sector. The remainder are in other sectors.
There are PAM candidates from all over Finland. At this stage it appears that the place where it is hardest to find a PAM candidate in your own municipality is in the municipalities in the Kainuu region.
PAM has opened the candidate gallery on its website, where you can search for union members standing in the municipal elections.
The list and also the information in this article will be updated as candidates report their candidacy to PAM and put their details in the candidate gallery.
Check out the PAM candidates in the candidate gallery and PAM’s municipal election themes.
Browse the candidate gallery
Check out PAM’s municipal election theme