In English

I am Maija Karhunen, freelancer working in the art and culture field. I live in Vuosaari, Helsinki. I am an electoral candidate in the 2025 municipal election for the Helsinki city council. You can vote for me with the number 118.

I have broken glass ceilings in my life already in my career as a dancer. Currently, I work as a freelance dancer and performer and I also do advocacy work for a more equitable art and culture sector.

At the same time, I have always known that one day I would become a politician. I was a candidate for the first time in the Helsinki municipal elections in 2021, after which I have served in the social, health and rescue board’s individual affairs’ division. At the end of 2024, I became a deputy member of the social, health and rescue board. In February 2025, I became a deputy member of Helsinki’s city council. In 2023, I was a candidate in the parliamentary elections. I am committed to politics and I wish so much for having the honor to continue doing political work in Helsinki.

I joined the Left Alliance in 2019. I was tired of the public discussion, where it was ”unanimously” that well-being is created by making budget cuts to well-being. Nonsense, isn’t it?! I want to strengthen the voices in society that say that there are other options, too. After all, there is no lack of wealth and abundance, the question is, how they are distributed. For me, the purpose of politics is to make every person’s one life a good one. It’s not acceptable that in a city like Helsinki we would lack competence to guarantee a dignified, meaningful life and sufficient livelihood for absolutely everyone.

 

The election day in the municipal elections is Sundat 13 April 2025. The advance voting period is from 2 to 8 April 2025 in Finland and from 2 to 5 April 2025 abroad. You can find more information about the elections and about the elegibility to vote on vaalit.fi, also in English.

What is important to me in the 2025 municipal election?

Helsinki is always on the side of the lowest-income people

We need a society that is not based on the overconsumption of the few, but rather distributes the existing wealth more evenly.

I don’t want only the richest to be able to afford to live in Helsinki. When the government increases unemployment, homelessness and makes the everyday life of those experiencing poverty even more difficult, we need politicians who are always on the side of the city’s lowest-income residents.

Affordable housing and Helsinki supplements in various sectors are needed. Ecological choices such as public transport must be affordable for all. A more equal future is built by taking care of educational resources at all levels.

In Helsinki, health care and social services work really, not just on paper

Helsinki’s social and health services are making budget cuts according to the textbook. That’s why only half of the doctor’s visits in Helsinki take place within two weeks. Customer fees have been increased to the limit. If city residents cannot seek treatment, health and well-being will be much difficult to achieve in the future.

We do not need ineffective experiments by private healthcare giants, but a broader, designated primary care physician model (omalääkärimalli) in public healthcare, a preventive approach, and lowering customer fees.

Helsinki residents have a lot of experiences of how encounters in social services and healthcare are not always sensitive enough. The experience of marginalized people in particular is not always understood. Structural racism in healthcare must be dismantled.

Artists in Helsinki have sufficient resources to be able to focus on their work

The work of artists is vital to us, as experiences bring meaning to life and strengthen connections with other people and other species.

When the government makes budget cuts in the art and culture sector, Helsinki must continue to invest in artist grants and subsidies. We need more affordable work spaces and public art commissions. Artists have unique expertise, therefore we must create work for artists in the city’s different sectors.

All children have the right to art activities and education, regardless of their residential area, wealth, mother tongue or abilities. Helsinki’s diversity must be taken into account increasingly in cultural policy.

 

Do you have thoughts on these topics or any other ideas on how to make Helsinki a better home for all of us? Would you like to join my campaign?

Please get in touch, I would love to hear from you! You can send me an e-mail to maijakarhunen@yahoo.com, or call/text/WhatsApp me at 044 552 9257, or send a message via my Facebook page or my Instagram account.

Photo: Minerva Juolahti