Summer municipal elections are held without a theme, reflecting the parties' hidden interest fatigue

When analysing the municipal elections in December 2020, it seemed clear how the electoral set-up would play out. The SDP would coast to a clear victory by building its campaign around the rejection of Corona and Sanna Marin's profile. The Greens would seek to repeat their spring 2017 result by repeating the successful strategy of the previous elections and expanding their political message beyond the traditional environmental and climate themes. For the Coalition, on the other hand, it seemed clear that the bourgeois party would build a clear message on the sustainability reform of the municipal economy, creating a traditional blue-red opposition that would benefit both the Coalition and the SDP.

Instead, we got an election with an airborne theme. There are certainly general themes: tomorrow Finland will be green, the heart is on the right, let's take care of the municipality. But what makes the 2021 municipal elections different is that clear political content seems to be absent. Even an active follower of politics cannot immediately think of any party, apart from the Finns, that has a clearly distinguishable lead and story in these elections.

The municipal elections are important because they mark the beginning of the parties' preparations for the most important elections of all, the parliamentary elections, which will be held in two years' time in spring 2023. The municipal elections will measure the success of the parties, but also the satisfaction of the party leadership and faith in the party. Municipal elections are an opportunity to create a positive narrative for voters and the media, which will help the party to build on its internal enthusiasm and external visibility to achieve a good result in the parliamentary elections.

Instead of having clear winners, after the municipal elections most parties will head towards the 2023 elections with a rather unremarkable profile. Before the koruna, there were two elections, parliamentary and European elections in 2019, after which we went almost straight into the koruna era. Individuals' corona fatigue, a very politically charged year and elections on top of that have put more strain on parties than usual.

Moreover, the absence of direct encounters and interaction has reduced the sense of community in party activities and individual rank-and-file activists have been much more at the mercy of the media in terms of which narratives about politics and their own party dominate their own mindset and motivation to participate in politics. SDP supporters have probably been best spared from this, but the others have not been cheered.

In the Finnish party scene, it is a fact that everyone is aware of, that the number of active people participating in party activities is constantly decreasing and getting new people involved is very difficult. This may not be obvious to those who follow politics from the outside. While parties normally have a hard job to do in attracting people to their activities and the work is concentrated in the hands of a few activists, the koruna will certainly mean that an exceptionally large number of people will drop out.

High-quality political preparation and campaigns within parties are important for democracy, so that people have a clear picture of what they are voting for and which options they are choosing between. The democratic participation and resilience of ordinary people is important to keep our political system on a sound footing, but especially to generate as many good ideas and innovations as possible on how our society should develop.

The impact of the koruna will certainly be felt in the vitality of the parties. It will certainly have its share of impatient campaigns, but it will have a far greater impact below the surface on party organisations, democratic participation and the long-term functioning of our political system. After Korona, parties will also need a revival, but how to do this is a more difficult question.

Lauri Korvenmaa

The author is an active political follower and analyst at Blic.