Helsinki City Council

The City Council is the highest decision-making body of Helsinki. It is elected through local elections every four years. The City Council oversees the City’s operations and finances.

The Council decides the administrative regulations (PDF)(Link leads to external service) governing the City’s operations; the long-term goals set for Helsinki’s operations and finances in the City Strategy(Link leads to external service); and the distribution of funds from the City’s annual budget(Link leads to external service) for different City operations.

The City Council decides what governing bodies the municipality has, who their members are, and how the powers and responsibilities are divided between the elected officials and municipal office holders. Read more: Who decides what?

The City Council has 85 members, who represent different political groups. There is a Deputy Councillor for each City Councillor. The current City Council’s period of office is 2021–2025.