What is the General Council?
The General Council, which usually meets twice a year, is the highest decision-making body of TEK. The General Council has 70 members, of which 66 represent the Tekniikan Akateemiset ry association and 4 represent the Tekniska Föreningen i Finland r.f. association. In addition, students have 7 seats on the TEK General Council. These seats are not filled in the TEK elections but by an open application every calendar year.
What do the delegates do?
TEK General Council members decide how the interests of TEK members are promoted in the labour market, what kinds of member services are provided to them, and how the profession makes an impact on society. The council elects the board and decides on financial matters, such as membership fees.
In addition to council meetings, the General Council members attend their own groups’ meetings and maintain contact with their groups. For example, the groups prepare initiatives for the council about emphasis and changes in TEK’s activities.
Who can stand for election?
Members who are individual members (except for student members) of Tekniikan akateemiset ry (TA) or TFiF-TEK and who are approved as members on 1 January 2023 are eligible to vote and stand for election. Student members may not stand for election or vote in the election, as the student members of the General Council are selected by an open application outside the elections.
As a member of TA, you can stand for election in any electoral area in TA's electoral district, regardless of where you live. When you vote, you may only vote for a candidate in your electoral area. Your electoral area is determined by your home municipality info in TEK's member register on 1 January 2023. If you live outside Finland, you can vote for a candidate in any electoral area.
TFiF-TEK members stand for election in the TFiF electoral district and may only vote for candidates in that district.
What are TA and TFiF?
The Tekniikan Akateemisten Liitto TEK ry (more familiar as TEK) consists of Tekniikan akateemiset ry (TA) and Tekniska Föreningen i Finland r.f. (TFiF). At TEK elections, elections to both associations take place, and there are candidates from both associations. TFiF-TEK members stand for election and vote in the TFiF electoral district, and TA members vote in the TA electoral district, which is further divided into electoral areas.
Electoral districts and areas
The electoral district of Tekniikan akateemiset ry (TA) (66 seats in total)
Southern electoral area: Uusimaa (32 seats)
Western electoral area: Åland, Southern Ostrobothnia, Kanta-Häme, Central Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Pirkanmaa, Ostrobothnia, Päijät-Häme, Satakunta and Southwest Finland (21 seats)
Eastern electoral area: South Karelia, South Savo, Kymenlaakso, North Karelia and North Savo (6 seats)
Northern electoral area: Kainuu, Lapland and Northern Ostrobothnia (7 seats)
The TFiF electoral district covers the whole of Finland (4 seats)
How do candidates stand for election?
Registration of candidates for elections begins on 10 January 2023 at 9.00 and ends on 6 February 2023 at 12.00. Candidates will be sent confirmation of candidacy on 13 February 2023.
Candidates always stand for election through an electoral alliance. You can contact one of the current General Council groups for further information or you can found your own electoral alliance. Read more about the current General Council groups' views for TEK's future in this gallup.
Starting an electoral alliance
At least three members of Tekniikan Akateemiset ry (TA) or three TFiF-TEK members who are eligible to stand for election may establish an electoral alliance. Members who are individual members (except for student members) of Tekniikan akateemiset ry (TA) or TFiF-TEK and who are approved as members on 1 January 2023 are eligible to stand for election. Member can only be the founder in one electoral alliance, meaning the same people cannot found multiple electoral alliances.
In practice, members establish an electoral alliance by signing an agreement; the templates are available here. Vaaliliiton sopimuskirja is the template for electoral alliances, Vaalirenkaan sopimuskirja is the template for electoral coalitions. In the TA electoral district, the electoral alliance must choose in their agreement all electoral areas (southern/western/eastern/northern) in which the electoral alliance is putting forward candidates.
The agreement must be signed by hand and delivered to the TEK office no later than 6 February 2023 at 12.00. You can submit the agreement on paper personally (TEK info, Ratavartijankatu 2 A, 00520 Helsinki) or scan the signed agreement and email it to election@tek.fi.
An electronic candidate registration tool is used for the elections. An electoral alliance may request credentials for the tool in its agreement. It is thus worth submitting the agreement as early as possible to allow the electoral alliance to use the electronic candidate registration tool.
If they wish, electoral alliances may join an electoral coalition in their own district. The electoral coalition agreement (Vaalirenkaan sopimuskirja) must also be submitted in an equivalent manner, signed by hand, to the TEK office or by email to election@tek.fi by 6 February 2023 at 12.00.
In addition, an electoral alliance must submit a list of its own candidates by 6 February 2023 at 12.00.
Electoral alliance and electoral coalition agreements
An electoral alliance is established either in the Tekniikan Akateemiset ry (TA) or the Tekniska Föreningen i Finland r.f. (TFiF) electoral district, depending on whether the electoral alliance members are members of TA or TFiF-TEK. All of the electoral alliance’s candidates must be from the same district. The district is chosen in the electoral alliance agreement (Vaaliliiton sopimuskirja).
The Tekniikan Akateemiset ry (TA) electoral district is divided into four electoral areas. The electoral alliance must choose in their agreement all electoral areas (southern/western/eastern/northern) in which the electoral alliance is putting forward candidates. The alliance doesn't have to get candidates to all chosen areas.
Candidate list
In addition to the agreement, an electoral alliance must submit a candidate list containing information about their candidates. An electoral alliance must return only one candidate list, either via the electronic candidate registration tool or on paper to the TEK office by 6 February 2023 at 12.00.
The electoral alliance may put forward as candidates twice the total number of representative seats to be filled in each electoral area plus one candidate, for possible deputy membership. Example: if the electoral area elects 5 members, the electoral alliance may put forward 5 + 5 + 1 = 11 candidates.
No one may stand for election for more than once in the same election.
Maximum number of candidates in the electoral areas of TA's district and in TFiF's electoral district
- Southern electoral area 65 candidates
- Western electoral area 43 candidates
- Eastern electoral area 13 candidates
- Northern electoral area 15 candidates
- TFiF's electoral district 9 candidates
Electronic candidate registration tool
An electronic candidate registration tool is used for TEK elections. An electoral alliance requests credentials for the tool in its agreement (Vaaliliiton sopimuskirja), which is recommended to submit as early as possible to the TEK office.
Starting on 10 January, we will send credentials for electronic candidate registration tool to the persons who are named in the electoral alliance’s agreement and who have requested credentials in the agreement. The decision to use the electronic candidate registration tool is specific to electoral alliance and in the TA district applies to all electoral areas.
If you request credentials for the electronic candidate registration system in your electoral alliance’s agreement, the electronic candidate list is the valid candidate list, unless the electoral alliance has expressly stated before the candidate registration deadline that it will not use the electronic system. The electoral alliance’s electoral officer must submit a written statement to the TEK office by 6 February 2023 at 12.00. If no statement is provided, the electronic list is considered to be valid.
Submission of the candidate list to the TEK office
The candidate list may be returned via the electronic candidate registration tool or on paper to the TEK office by 6 February 2023 at 12.00.
If you use the electronic candidate registration tool, the system closes automatically on 6 February 2023 at 12.00 and forwards the candidate lists it holds at that time to TEK.
If you submit the candidate list on paper to the TEK office, the list submitted last is the valid one. If you wish to add names to the list, you must have all the electoral alliances' candidates’ names, including those of candidates on possible previous lists.
If an error is detected in the submitted list, the representative of the Election Committee will contact the electoral officer. The electoral officer must be available by phone or text message on 6 February 2023 from 12:00 to 14:00. If the officer cannot be reached with two messages sent every 15 minutes, extra names will be removed from the list by drawing lots using Excel's random function.
Candidates’ details for the candidate list
The following information is required for a candidate list of all candidates compiled by the electoral officer:
- Given names and surname
- Date of birth
- Email address
- Phone number
All aforementioned information about candidates must be submitted for successful candidate registration.
The following information of the candidates is published in TEK's compilation list of candidates and other election communications:
- First name and surname (based on the details in OmaTEK member portal on 27 February 2023)
- Home municipality (based on the details in OmaTEK member portal on 27 February 2023)
- The candidate number issued by the Election Committee
- Electoral alliance
- Electoral district (TA or TFiF) and in the Tekniikan Akateemiset ry district, the electoral area in which the candidate is standing
The candidates’ information is used in electoral communications, such as the electoral engine and the compilation list of candidates published by TEK. By standing for election in TEK elections, a candidate agrees that the following information will be used and published as part of electoral communications: first name and surname, home municipality, and information about electoral district and if applicable electoral area and candidate number. The candidate decides independently on the publication and use of other information (e.g. date of birth and contact details), such as in the electoral engine.
Starting an electoral alliance in brief:
- Get three people who are eligible to stand for election together (Members who are individual members (except for student members) of Tekniikan akateemiset ry (TA) or TFiF-TEK and who are approved as members on 1 January 2023 are eligible to vote and stand for election.)
- Print out the electoral alliance agreement (Vaaliliiton sopimuskirja). The templates are available here.
- Are you members of Tekniikan Akateemiset ry (TA) or TFiF-TEK? Choose the right district in the electoral alliance agreement.
- If you are in the Tekniikan Akateemiset ry district, choose which electoral area you are putting candidates forward in. If you put forward candidates in several electoral areas, note that you must choose all areas in the electoral alliance agreement. It doesn't matter if there won't be candidates for all areas.
- If you want to use the electronic candidate registration tool, mark the appropriate box on the electoral alliance agreement and submit it to TEK's office as soon as possible. We will send credentials to the founders of the electoral alliance named in the agreement.
- Compile a list of your candidates on the electronic system or on paper. Please note, that you must collect certain details of the candidates. More information about candidate lists here.
- Send the agreement and the candidate list to the TEK office by 6 February 2023 at 12.00. The agreement must be submitted signed by hand, either on paper to the TEK information desk or scanned and emailed to election@tek.fi. The candidate list may be returned via the electronic candidate registration tool or on paper.
- If your electoral alliance wishes, you may join an electoral coalition in your own district. The electoral coalition agreement (Vaalirenkaan sopimuskirja) must also be submitted signed by hand, to the TEK office or scanned by email to election@tek.fi by 6 February 2023 at 12.00.
- We will present the programmes of the electoral alliances in the second spring issue of the TEK magazine. An electoral alliance must submit its electoral programme by 1 March to the TEK communications team: heidi.tomperi@tek.fi. We will update the election website with more detailed instructions at a later date.