Turun Sanomat reports that as of the close of polling stations on Thursday evening, more than half a million Finns had cast advance votes in the first round of the presidential election.
The paper gave the exact figure as 507,050, according to the results service of the Ministry of Justice. For the first two days of early voting, the national turnout stood at 11.8 percent.
In the paper's main coverage area, Southwest Finland, 45,428 votes had been cast, which corresponds to 11.9 percent of eligible voters. The highest rate in the region, 14.3 percent, was seen in Naantali.
Meanwhile, across the country in North Karelia, Joensuu's Karjalainen is another paper carrying a feature on the growing popularity of voting at home.
Voters can cast a ballot in advance from home, if their physical ability to function is so limited that they cannot get to a polling station without unreasonable difficulties. Caregivers of such individuals living in the same household can also vote at the same time, under certain conditions.
The paper reports that the popularity of voting at home is clearly higher in this month's presidential election, compared to the previous presidential election in 2018. In a survey by the Uutissuomalainen news group of the 20 largest cities, eight reported that the number of home voters has at least doubled.
In Kouvola, there are now about 3.5 times more people registered for home voting than in 2018, and in Mikkeli and Jyväskylä about 2.5 times more. In Kuopio, the number of people who registered to vote at home has more than doubled. In Espoo, Turku and Rovaniemi it has roughly doubled, and in Oulu it has nearly doubled.
Out of the country's 20 largest cities, all but Vantaa responded to the survey.
Five other cities also reported a significant increase of at least 60 percent in the increase of voting at home. These cities are Tampere, Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Lahti and Porvoo.
The deadline for registering to vote at home passed on Tuesday afternoon.
Election officials list several reasons for the growing popularity of home voting. Those include the increasing number of elderly voters, and the fact that the public became more aware of the opportunity of voting at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
It is reported from Espoo that the number of local home voters in this presidential elections has "exploded".
"The increase is due, for example, to voting enthusiasm and the winter weather," Heidi Rosenberg, administrative secretary of the City of Espoo told the paper.
According to Rosenberg, the demand for home voting services has also been boosted by the fact that elderly people are increasingly living at home longer.
Left vs right
A poll published Thursday morning by rural-centric paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus showed the National Coalition Party candidiate Alexander Stubb taking the top spot, followed by Pekka Haavisto, who is backed by a voters' association and the Green Party.
In a follow-up to that voter survey, the paper writes it will be a miracle if another candidate breaks into the top two spots.
It points out that every time there has been a second round in a direct national election for the president in Finland, there has been a right-wing and a left-wing candidate.
Since 2012, the position of the left's top candidate went to Haavisto. That also seems to be the case now.
The reason for Stubb's strong showing, it says, is the strong support of his own party. Based on the background material collected for the MT poll, three out of four backers of the National Coalition Party plan to vote for Stubb.
In addition, he is the favorite of Swedish People's Party voters, and is likely to receive some support in the first round from Centre Party and SDP voters.
Haavisto is largely relying on Green voters. As the the paper points out, their numbers are relatively small, but he is also picking up a lot of support from Social Democrats, a third of whom say he will get their votes in the first round.
Election related stories — including profiles of each candidate — can be found here.
Yle News published "A really simple guide to Finland's 2024 presidential election", which includes information about the election and offers some insight about its history.
More strikes threaten
Helsingin Sanomat reports that according to its sources, Finland will see more strikes in coming weeks than previously announced.
On Thursday, the Industrial Union announced new political strikes in early February that will see some 60,000 workers across 700 locations walk out for two days starting on 1 February.
HS writes that according to several of its sources, the Paperworkers' Union will be making an announcement next Tuesday that it will shut down several forest industry factories on 1 February.
According to HS, the Transport Workers' Union AKT will be discussing industrial actions during a leadership meeting Friday. If it so desires, the union can in practice halt the nation's imports and exports.
In addition, HS writes that a number of unions included in the white-collar Akava confederation plan to participate in political demonstrations against the government's labour market policies.
Among others, Akava memnbers include teachers engineers, economists, military officers, psychologists, lawyers and doctors.
PM's electricity bill
With many, if not most, people dreading their next electricity utility bill, Iltalehti gives readers a look at what the cost is like for Kesäranta, the official residence of the prime minister in the Meilahti district of Helsinki.
According to the company which manages state real estate, the electricity bills for Kesäranta, for the years 2022-2023 totalled approximately 31,500 euros — or an average of just over 1,300 euros per month.
The previous PM, Sanna Marin (SDP) lived with her family at Kesäranta in 2022. The following year Petteri Orpo (NCP) lived at the residence on weekdays, and known to spend weekends with his family in Turku.
So far, during Orpo's term bills have averaged well over 1,100 euros per month. During Sanna Marin's premiership, they were just under 1,300.
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