Formally the Republic of Finland became independent on December 6, 1917. The capital, Helsinki is the northern most capital in Europe (60 10 N, 24 56 E).

Located in the Eastern European Time zone (EET), Finland is 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC aka Greenwich Mean Time)) and uses Daylight Savings Time from the last Sunday in March through the last Sunday in October, adding one hour.

There are six provinces, called laani in Finland: Ahvenanmaan Laani (Aland), Etela-Suomen Laani (Southern Finland), Ita-Suomen Laani (Eastern Finland), Lansi-Suomen Laani (Western Finland), Lapin Laani (Lapland) and Oulun Laani.

The constitution was accepted on March 1, 2000 replacing the old Constitution Act of Finland, the Parliament Act and two acts on ministerial liabilities. The civil law is based on Swedish law. The president may request the Supreme Court to review laws and accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations. The population enjoys universal suffrage at age 18.

Executive Branch of Government
The chief of state is President Tarja Halonen (as of March 1, 2000).
The head of government is Prime Minister Matti Vannanen (as of June 24, 2003) and Deputy Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen (as of April 19, 2007).
Cabinet member (Council of State) is appointed by the president and is responsible to parliament.

Elections
The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term). The election was last held 15 January 2006 (next to be held in January 2012). The president appoints the prime minister and deputy prime minister from the majority party or the majority coalition after parliamentary elections and the parliament must approve the appointment; Prime Minister Vanhanen was reelected on 17 April 2007.

In the last election, the results were: Tarja Halonen (SDP party)- 46.3%, Sauli Niinisto (Kok party) - 24.1%, Matti Vanhanen (Kesk party) - 18.6%, Heidi Hautala (VIHR party) - 3.5%. A runoff election between Halonen and Niinisto was held January 29, 2006. Halonen won with 51.8% of the vote, Niinisto received 48.2%. Matti Vanhanen reelected prime minister with Parliament election results 121-71. Ass of that election, there is a government coalition of Kesk, KOK, VIHR and SFP.

Legislative Branch
Finland has an unicameral Parliament (Eduskunta ) with 200 seats. Members are elected by popular vote on a proportional basis to serve four-year terms.

The last elections were held on March 18, 2007 (next to be held March 2011). The results/percent of vote by party are: Kesk 23.1%, Kok 22.3%, SDP 21.4%, VAS 8.8%, VIHR 8.5%, KD 4.9%, SFP 4.5%, True Finns 4.1%, other 3.4%. The number of seats won by party are: Kesk 51, Kok 50, SDP 45, VAS 17, VIHR 15, SFP 9, KD 7, True Finns 5, other 1.

There are numerous political parties in Finland. They are lead by:
Center Party or Kesk (Matti Vanhanen)
Christian Democrats or KD (Paivi Rasanen)
Green Party or VIHR (Tarja Cronberg)
Left Alliance or VAS (Martti Korhonen) (composed of People's Democratic League and Democratic Alternative)
National Coalition (conservative) Party or Kok (Jyrki Katainen)
Social Democratic Party or SDP (Jutta Urpilainen)
Swedish People's Party or SFP (Stefan Wallin)
True Finns (Timo Soini)

Finland’s high court is the Korkein Oikeus (Supreme Court). The judges are appointed by the president.

Finland participates in the following international organizations: ADB (nonregional members), AfDB (nonregional members), Arctic Council, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G-9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM (guest), NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, Schengen Convention, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UPU, WCO, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO and ZC.

Economic Aid Donor
ODA, $1.023 billion.

USA Diplomatic Representation
Ambassador Pekka Lantu leads the Finnish Embassy at 3301 Massachusettes Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008. His telephone number is 1-202-298-5800 and the Fax is 1-202-298-6030. Finland has consulates in Los Angeles and New York.

Ambassador Barbara Barrett is the USA representative to Finland. She heads the embassy at:
Itainen Puistotie 14B, 00140 Hlesinki. Her mailing address is APO AE 09723. The telephone number is (358) (9) 616250 and the Fax is (358) (9) 6162 5800.