A municipality is part of the state s community and the administration of municipalities is a part of public administration in Finland. A municipality is a community formed by a specific area and its inhabitants. The new Local Government Act of 1995 recognizes only municipalities as the official form of local government, but a municipality can call itself a town or city if it is townlike enough. A member of a municipality is someone who resides in the municipality in question.
Residence is thus the municipal district where a person is de facto domiciled.
However, owning a property or governing one in a municipality also makes one a member of that municipality. Member of a municipality can also be a foreign citizen. In addition to Finns, also other citizens of the European Union as well as the citizens of Norway and Iceland have the right to vote in municipal elections. Also other foreign citizens have the right to vote if they have lived in Finland for two years. A member of a municipality can also be a community, an institution or a foundation with registered offices in the municipality or if one of these has real property in the municipality.