Authors

• Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE)

Keywords

defence and state security policy, electoral issues, employment, immigration policy, national policy, parliamentary candidates, parliamentary elections, social policy, taxation

Abstract

Prior to the parliamentary elections, from 18 February to 16 March 2003, YLE (Finland's national public service broadcasting company) had a candidate selection engine on its website. The data consist of answers given by parliamentary candidates to questions presented on the website. Questions covered national defence, Finland's potential NATO membership, adaptation problems of immigrants, judiciary system, health care, youth crime, long-term unemployment, government composition after the elections, gender wage inequality, tax cuts, buying sex, social security benefits, whether Swedish should be an obligatory subject in schools, and whether same-sex couples should have the right to adopt children. The data also contain information on whether the candidate was selected to Parliament or not. Please note: the candidate selection engine also included a number of open-ended questions the answers to which are not be available in English.