The Swedish Assembly of Finland is an official consultative parliament representing the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

.

Elections

Elections are held every four years, and candidates are nominated by the political parties which are either bilingual or Swedish-speaking. The assembly has 75 seats, where 70 are filled on the basis of municipal election results, and five are appointed by the Parliament of Åland

Parliament of Åland

The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats.- Elections :- See also :*Government of Åland, or Ålands landskapsregering...

 .

Purpose

The assembly is a forum for political discussion on issues concerning Swedish speakers, and it also functions as an interest group for Swedish-speaking population. It also engages in research on demographic issues and publishes information to the public about the situation of the Swedish-speaking Finns.

Leadership

Astrid Thors

Astrid Thors

Astrid Thors is a Finland-Swedish politician of the Swedish People's Party. Thors is a Candidate of Law and had several white-collar high-position jobs before being elected into the European Parliament. She served there between 1996 and 2004. She was elected into the Parliament of Finland in 2003...

 was chairperson of the Swedish Assembly of Finland 2005 – 2007. She was succeeded by Ulla-Maj Wideroos

Ulla-Maj Wideroos

Ulla-Maj Wideroos is a Finnish politician who belongs to the Swedish People's Party. She has an education in economy and trade...

 in 2007, by Anna-Maja Henriksson

Anna-Maja Henriksson

Anna-Maja Henriksson is a Swedish-speaking Finnish politician. She is Finland's Minister of Justice in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet. She has been a member of the Parliament of Finland since 2007 and a vice-chairperson of the Swedish People's Party of Finland since 2010.-References:...

 in 2009 and by Christina Gestrin in 2011.

See also

• Finland's language strife
  Finland's language strife
  The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics. It revolved around the question of what status Swedish—the language which since the Middle Ages had been the main language of administration and high culture in Finland—and, on the other hand,...
  
  
• Svecoman
  Svecoman
  The Svecoman movement was a Swedish nationalist movement that arose in the Grand Duchy of Finland at the end of the 19th century chiefly as a reaction to the demands for increased use of Finnish vigorously presented by the Fennoman movement...
  
  
• Swedish People's Party
• Finlands Svenska Television
  Finlands Svenska Television
  YLE FST5 is YLE's Finland-Swedish national television channel, providing television programmes in the Swedish language in Finland...
  
  
• Thing (assembly)
  Thing (assembly)
  A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
  
  

External links

• Swedish Assembly of Finland (in both English, Swedish and Finnish)
• Swedish in Finland: a brochure in English and French by (and in part about) the Assembly