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Like in all Finnish municipalities, the city council in Helsinki is the main decision-making organ in local politics, dealing with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-member council is elected every fourth year by municipal elections.
Traditionally, the conservative Kokoomus has been the biggest party in Helsinki's local politics, with the Social Democrats being the second biggest. However, in the 2000 election the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strongest area of support nationally, gained the position of the second most popular party. Currently these three hold 75% of the seats.
The Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party both have some 7-8 percent of the seats. The latter's support has been steadily declining over the years, most likely because of the diminishing proportion of Swedish speakers in Helsinki. The Centre Party of Finland, despite being one of the three major parties in nationwide politics, only has little support in Helsinki like it does in most other big cities.
| Party | 2004 | 2000 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Coalition Party | 25 | 25 | 24 |
| SDP | 21 | 18 | 21 |
| Green League | 17 | 21 | 16 |
| Left Alliance | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Swedish People's Party | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| Centre Party | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Christian Democrats | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| True Finns | 1 | - | - |
| SKPCommunist Party of Finland (Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, abbreviated SKP) is a political party endorsing communism in Finland. Early stages In 1918 the "Reds" lost the Finnish Civil War. The Social Democratic Party of Finland had supported the losing side | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Independents | 0 | 1 | 0 |