The election agent of a party, joint list or voters' association must submit a candidacy application to the municipal Central Election Board in the 2025 municipal elections by 4 March 2025 at 4:00 p.m.

The authority processing candidate applications must examine whether candidate applications and notifications of electoral alliances and joint lists have been submitted to it within the time limit provided for by law and whether the documents have been prepared in the form or forms provided for by law or pursuant thereto, and whether the candidates are eligible to stand for election and whether there are any other obstacles to their candidacy provided for by law.

Candidate applications and their attached documents will be reviewed at a meeting held on the 34th day before election day (10 March 2025). If a candidate application or a Notice of Electoral Alliance or Joint List has not been submitted to the authority by the deadline, it will be disregarded.

Commentary

The election agent of a party, joint list or a constituency association not included in a joint list must be notified immediately if:

1.) The candidate application or the notification of an electoral alliance or joint list has not been made in accordance with this Act or the regulations issued pursuant to it, or the documents required by this Act have not been attached to the candidate application;

2.) The candidate application documents cannot be considered lawful for any reason other than that mentioned in paragraph 1; or

3.) a person has been nominated as a candidate who is not eligible to stand for election or who has been nominated as a candidate on two or more lists in the same election. (Election Act, Section 36)

The following must be attached to a party's candidacy application:

1.) A proposal for a party's candidate list, which must state the name and rank, profession or position of each candidate in the order in which the candidates are placed in the combination of candidate lists, using a maximum of two expressions; The candidate's commonly known nickname or abbreviated first name may be used alongside or instead of the first name; The candidate list may not contain any other entries, unless they are necessary to specify the candidate's identity;

2.) A signed consent from each candidate, accompanied by his/her personal identification number, to be a candidate of the party that nominated him/her and to accept the position of a delegate, as well as a declaration that he/she has not consented to be a candidate of another party or electoral association in the same election;

3.) a declaration by those entitled to write the party's name that the association on whose behalf the party's election agent appears represents the party's individual members in the municipality; and

4.) a notification issued by the association representing the party about the association representing the party members, as well as a notification of the name, personal identification number and contact information of the party's election agent and his/her deputy, and a power of attorney issued by the association to the party's election agent and his/her deputy. The party's election agent must date and sign the candidate application and certify in it that the candidates are eligible to stand for election. (Section 153 of the Election Act.)

Electoral Alliance

If the parties have agreed on a joint electoral alliance, a joint declaration must be drawn up, listing the parties joining the electoral alliance and signed by the election agents of all parties joining the electoral alliance. The election agent of the party joining the electoral alliance must submit the declaration to the municipal central election board at the same time as the party's candidate application. (Section 154)

Things to consider regarding the voters' association

The following must be attached to the candidate application of the voters' association:

1.) A proposal for a list of candidates for the electoral association, containing the information referred to in Section 150, subsection 1, paragraph 1;

2.) a signed consent from the candidate, accompanied by his/her personal identification number, to be nominated as a candidate by the electoral association that nominated him/her and to accept the position of a delegate, as well as a declaration that he/she has not consented to be nominated as a candidate by another electoral association or party in the same election; and

3.) The founding document of the voters' association.

The electoral representative of the electoral association must date and sign the candidate application, indicate his/her personal identification number on it, and certify that the candidate is eligible to stand for election and that the members of the electoral association have themselves signed the founding document. (Section 155 of the Election Act)

A person entitled to vote may only be a member of one electoral association. If he is a member of two or more electoral associations, the Central Election Commission must remove his name from all founding documents.

If a constituency association has agreed on a joint list with one or more other constituency associations, a notification of the constituency associations and their candidates in the order in which the candidates are placed in the combination of candidate lists must be submitted simultaneously with the constituency association's application for candidacy. The notification is signed by the election agents of the constituency associations that formed the joint list.

The notification must also include the names and contact information of the joint list election agent and his/her deputy. The notification may propose the name of the joint list for inclusion in the combination of candidate lists, which must include the word "joint list". The name may not be inappropriate or general in meaning or otherwise misleading. The name may always include a name entered in the register of associations, for the use of which the electoral associations forming the joint list have received demonstrable permission from the association. However, the name may not include the name of a party entered in the party register. (Section 156 of the Election Act.)

Corrections and additions

Election agents to whom comments have been made have the right to make any corrections arising from them and to supplement the candidate application and related documents no later than the 32nd day (12.3.2025) before election day before 16:00. During the same period, election agents have the right to make any necessary corrections regarding the candidate's name, rank, profession or position, or municipality of residence. If the comment concerns a notification of an electoral alliance, the election agents of the parties have the right to submit a joint written proposal to correct the notification. If the comment has been made for the reason specified in section 36, subsection 3, subparagraph 3, the election agent has the right to remove the candidate referred to in the first-mentioned paragraph of the law within the period provided for in subsection 1 of this section.

The accompanying material is a list of candidates by party. The application documents and their preliminary inspection results will be presented at the meeting.

Appendix 1 list of candidates

The Central Election Board will draw lots to determine the order of the candidate lists for the combination of parties, electoral alliances and joint lists at a meeting to be held on Monday, March 10, 2025. At a meeting to be held on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. at the latest, the Central Election Board will draw up the combination of candidate lists.

According to Section 37 of the Election Act, the meeting that checks the candidate applications and the documents attached to them also determines the mutual order of parties, joint lists and electoral associations for the purpose of combining candidate lists.

In parliamentary elections, municipal elections and European Parliament elections, the following will be drawn:

1) The mutual order of parties and electoral alliances not belonging to an electoral alliance;

2) The mutual order of the parties forming the electoral alliance;

3) Mutual order of joint lists

Electoral associations not included in the joint list are arranged in alphabetical order.

Drafter's statement:

A draw will be made from the candidate lists submitted by the deadline.

combination as follows:

1) Ranking of parties not part of an electoral alliance and electoral alliances; 6 parties submitted their candidate lists

2) the mutual order of the joint lists; there is one joint list that is ranked after the parties

3) It is stated that there is one electoral association not included in the joint list and that it is organised as extreme right in accordance with Section 41.4 of the Election Act.

The candidate numbers are determined in the order in which the candidates are listed in the application documents. The first number is 2.

Spring meeting schedule. Due to the Central Election Board's tight meeting schedule, it is appropriate to distribute the agendas for regional and municipal elections, especially the counting meetings and the result confirmation meeting, at the meeting. The agendas will also be published online.