“One vote doesn’t matter” and 4 other myths about voting
In Aleksi Pakarinen’s opinion there are as many ways of influencing as there are people. “It can just be talking to one person about a matter that is important to you”, he says. Photo: Jaakko Lukumaa
This spring there will be three elections that will have a big impact on the everyday lives of PAM members. Aleksi Pakarinen, shop steward at Inex Partners’ consumer goods logistics section, encourages young people in particular to turn out and says why you should definitely vote.
Spring election timetable
- PAM Congress elections 25 March–8 April
What you are voting on: 373 PAM members will be elected as Congress representatives to PAM’s three-day Congress in Helsinki on 4–6 June - Finnish Parliament elections 14 April (early voting in Finland: 3–9 April)
What you are voting on: 200 MPs to enact laws, decide on Finland’s public finances and exercise their powers in international affairs over the next years. - European Parliament elections 26 May (early voting in Finland: 15–21 May)
What you are voting on: 14 Finns will be elected as members of the European Parliament or MEPs.
“If something bothers you, you should do something about it”, thought Aleksi Pakarinen when he was 14 years old and joined the youth council in Vantaa. There he helped to shape the local community for the next few years until he came up against the upper age limit.
Now, ten years later, making a contribution and giving young people a voice in decision-making are still important for Pakarinen. He is the shop steward at his workplace, a deputy member of PAM’s youth council and is the youth manager of his union branch.
“It seems that politics is still a bit of a taboo subject in certain age groups. But influencing things doesn’t have to be on a large scale, it can be small everyday matters. Influencing can simply be about raising a matter that is important to you”, Pakarinen says.
Pakarinen got logistics training through his work. First, he got temporary agency work with Inex Partners, the logistics company of the S Group, and later became a full-time employee. He has been on the same employer’s payroll for the past ten years.
Although Pakarinen has sometimes taken a break from contributing actively to society, he has closely followed municipal, parliamentary and EU elections.
“For me, voting has always been the right thing to do. Not just for the sake of voting, you should also take care who you vote for and for what reason. Preferably of course you should vote for a person who shares your values”, he says.
In Pakarinen’s opinion young people’s voice badly needs to be heard this spring in PAM’s congress elections and in the elections to the Finnish and European parliaments.
“People like to vote for candidates who resemble themselves and share the same values. If you look at the average age of voters, which is high, then they will tend to vote for policies that young people will have to pay for”, he says.
Pakarinen himself is a candidate in the congress elections. He hopes that young people will make a stronger showing in this year’s elections, because the age distribution of previous congress representatives compared to the age distribution of employees is skewed to the upside. He also hopes for a higher turnout of young people in the parliamentary elections.
“Personally, I am very concerned about cuts to education, and what the status of employees is. In my opinion all young people should be interested in this and vote in young people to make the decisions”, Pakarinen says.
Thirdly there is the EU election. In his opinion no-one should underestimate this.
“Even though the EU election might seem a bit distant, it is a very important election. It will affect our lives perhaps more than people understand”, he points out.