Finland sets fewer conditions than any other country in this series. Every Finnish citizen who is 18 by election day may vote in parliamentary, presidential and European Parliament elections regardless of where they live, and there is nothing to register: the Digital and Population Data Services Agency puts every eligible citizen on the voting register automatically.
The work is in the mechanics. Postal voting documents have to be ordered for each election, from the Ministry of Justice, no earlier than three months before election day. For the parliamentary election on Sunday 18 April 2027 that window opens on Monday 18 January 2027, and the completed vote has to be back in Finland by the Friday before polling.
Last verified: 28 September 2026.
Citizenship and age decide it, nothing else
The Ministry of Justice’s wording for parliamentary elections is that regardless of domicile, every Finnish citizen who has reached the age of 18 not later than on the day of the election is entitled to vote. The presidential and European pages say the same. No prior residence test, no time limit, no renewal.
County and municipal elections go to people whose municipality of residence is the municipality in question on the 51st day before election day; a resident of Spain has none, so those are closed. For the European election the ministry adds one line: a Finnish citizen who has registered as a voter in another member state is not entitled to vote in the European elections in Finland. Your Europe, the EU’s guidance site, puts the general rule the same way: you can only vote once in the European elections, for candidates in your home country or in the country where you live.
🧭 Stuck on something a guide cannot finish?
We keep a short list of bilingual navigators on the Costa who do this for a living. Tell us what you are stuck on and we will point you at the right one.
Two ways to vote from Spain
Advance voting in person, or a postal vote. They are alternatives: once a postal vote is in the post the ministry treats it as cast, and you cannot then vote at an embassy or in Finland.
Advance voting at an embassy. Advance voting abroad begins on the Wednesday eleven days before election day and ends on the Saturday eight days before, at Finnish embassies prescribed by decree for each election. You show an official photo ID (passport, police-issued identity card or driving licence), write your candidate’s number on the ballot in the space reserved for voting, and the official seals it in a covering envelope for your municipality’s central election board. Bringing your notice of the right to vote speeds this up abroad. Stations abroad hold candidate books only, so look up your candidate’s number before you go.
Postal voting. You, or an assistant, order the documents from the ministry’s ordering portal (Finnish or Swedish only), giving name, personal identity code and a postal address abroad, which may be a temporary one. Documents cannot be sent to an address in Finland. The pack holds a ballot, a ballot envelope, a covering letter with instructions, and a covering envelope. Candidate numbers are published about a month before election day on the ministry’s result service.
The vote needs two witnesses present, both aged 18 or over. They cannot be your spouse, child or parent, a candidate in that election or a candidate’s family member, and they need not be Finnish. You mark the ballot, seal it in the ballot envelope, fill in and sign the covering letter, and the witnesses sign it too. The sealed covering envelope goes to the central election board of the municipality where you are on the voting register, at your own postage, by Spanish post or a courier. The notice of the right to vote shows that board’s address; without one, the ministry or the Digital and Population Data Services Agency can tell you the municipality. The envelope must be posted from outside Finland; if the country of posting is not shown, the vote may be disregarded.
The address that decides whether the paperwork reaches you
About a month and a half before election day the Digital and Population Data Services Agency sends the notice of the right to vote to every eligible voter whose address it holds, and the notice carries the return address for your postal vote. Postal packs go to the address you gave when ordering, so the two can differ. The agency’s website is where an address abroad is updated in the Population Information System.
The next dates that matter
- Monday 18 January 2027: postal voting documents for the 2027 parliamentary election can be ordered from this day.
- Friday 26 February 2027: the voting register data is collected, fixing the municipality in which each person votes.
- 7 to 10 April 2027: advance voting abroad, at the embassies named in the decree for this election.
- Friday 16 April 2027, 19.00: the ministry’s rule is that a postal vote must reach the central election board by 19.00 on the Friday before election day, which for an 18 April poll is 16 April.
- Sunday 18 April 2027: election day. Results are confirmed on Wednesday 21 April.
- 2029: the next European Parliament election.
What this does not cover
Which stations in Spain will take advance votes in April 2027: the decree naming them is not yet published, and as of today the embassy in Madrid’s website carries nothing on the 2027 election. Check vaalit.fi and finlandabroad.fi in early 2027. County and municipal elections in Finland, which need a Finnish municipality of residence. Voting from Finland gives you nothing in Spain’s regional or national elections; the Spanish municipal and European votes open to an EU citizen are in the Spain guides below.
The five-minute version
- Parliamentary, presidential and European Parliament elections: every Finnish citizen aged 18 by election day can vote, wherever they live. No registration.
- County and municipal elections need a Finnish municipality of residence, so they are closed from Spain.
- Postal voting: order the pack from the Ministry of Justice no earlier than three months before election day, vote with two adult witnesses, post it from abroad to your municipality’s central election board.
- Advance voting abroad runs from the Wednesday eleven days before election day to the Saturday eight days before, at embassies set by decree.
- 2027 parliamentary election: order postal documents from 18 January, advance voting abroad 7 to 10 April, postal votes in by 19.00 on 16 April, election day 18 April. European election: Finland or Spain, once.
Related guides
- Can You Still Vote in Your Home Country While Living in Spain?
- How to Register to Vote in Spanish Municipal Elections as a Foreign Resident
- Can Foreigners Vote in Elections in Spain?
- Spain Election Calendar for Foreign Residents
- How to Vote in Swedish Elections From Spain
- Can You Still Vote in Danish Elections From Spain?
General information, not legal advice, current as of 28 September 2026. Primary sources: the Finnish Ministry of Justice (vaalit.fi), the Embassy of Finland in Madrid (finlandabroad.fi), and Your Europe (europa.eu).
Add WaypointSur as a preferred source in Google Search: