1. Municipalities

2. Inhabitants choose the council every fourth year for example in the 2008 local election 61,2% of the enfranchised ones voted The council makes a decision on the matters of the municipality, it is responsible for the economy and operation of the municipality Openness and publicity are basic principles of local government in Finland

3. Members of the Town Council in Ikaalinen 27 seats Parliamentary Groups The Centre Party of Finland (10) The National Coalition Party (6) The Social Democrats (6) The True Finns (3) The Left Alliance (1) The Christian Democrats (1)

4. The local government Is responsible for the administration and the municipality’s management of finances It also prepares the council matters, controls the interest of the municipality and represents the municipality

5. The mayor Is chosen by the council The municipal manager leads the administration and economy of the municipality and other operations under the local government At the moment Ikaalinen has no official mayor

6. The boards Boards are not compulsory But boards which consist of the elected union representatives have been appointed in practice in every municipality to take care of the education matters, social services and health services and the environmental matters as well as community matters

7. Municipal mergers In Finland we are trying to reduce the number of municipalities by connecting communities together The benefits of municipal merger: The same officials can work on larger units Organization of social welfare and health service is easier in bigger municipalities State gives allowance when municipalities join together Finland is ageing and there are less workers The disadvantages of municipal merger: Independent municipality is important for many Services can move away In bigger municipalities local democracy suffers/ there is the lack of democracy