The City Council of Helsinki (Finnish: Helsingin kaupunginvaltuusto, Swedish: Helsingfors stadsfullmäktige) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland.[1] The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport.
The 85-seat Council's members are elected every four years in municipal elections. The seat of the Council is the Helsinki City Hall, which overlooks Market Square in central Helsinki.
Historically, the center-right National Coalition Party has been the largest player in Helsinki's local politics, with the center-left Social Democratic Party being the second largest. However, since the 2000 elections, the position of the Social Democrats has been challenged by the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strongest area of support nationally, with the former party becoming the second-largest in only the 2008 elections. As of 2021, the second-largest and third-largest parties in the Council are the Green League and the Social Democrats respectively.
The Left Alliance is the Council's fourth-largest party while the Finns are the fifth-largest. The Swedish People's Party is sixth, with the party's support on a steady decline over the years; this can be attributed to the diminishing proportion of Swedish speakers in Helsinki. The agrarian Centre Party, despite being one of the major parties in national politics, has limited support in Helsinki. This is because there are very few farmers in Helsinki.
The City Manager of Helsinki was appointed by the Council. The last holder of the post was Jussi Pajunen. He was appointed for two 7-year terms, starting 1 June 2005. Pajunen was a member of the Council for 8 years, and was the chairman of the city board in 2003–2005. According to local media, the three biggest parties in the council had agreed in the wake of the October 2004 municipal election that the mayor's seat would go to the National Coalition Party.[citation needed] The position of City Manager was abolished in June 2017 and the position of Mayor was created.
The position of Mayor of Helsinki was created when the position of City Manager of Helsinki was abolished in June 2017. The incumbent mayor of Helsinki is Juhana Vartiainen. Vapaavuori has been a Helsinki City Council member in the years 1997-2007 and 2017-. Vapaavuori started his term on 7 June 2017.