The City Council also voted on the council chair positions. The chair of the Helsinki City Council for the coming term will be Eveliina Heinäluoma (SDP). Juha Hakola (NCP) was elected as the first deputy chair and Anni Sinnemäki (Greens) will serve as the second deputy chair.
All the council votes on these key positions were unanimous. The term of office of the new mayoral team will begin on 2 June 2025 and last for the duration of the four-year council term.
The council meeting is still in session. The meeting’s agenda also includes votes on the appointments of members to the City Board and its divisions and committees, as well as the committees’ subcommittees. Project plans and motions from the councillors will also be heard. The final bulletin on the meeting will be published on the city’s online Decisions service once the City Council meeting has ended.
A livestream of the meeting is available for viewing on the Helsinki Channel(Link leads to external service) .
Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov
Daniel Sazonov served as Helsinki’s Deputy Mayor for Social Service, Health Care and Rescue Services during the previous council term. He holds a master’s degree in law.
Sazonov has previously worked as a strategy manager for the National Coalition Party (NCP) and Special Adviser to the Minister of Justice. He has served as a city councillor in Helsinki since 2017, a member of the City Board since 2018 and in numerous other positions of trust.
The mayor is a full-time elected official who directs the city’s administration, finances and other activities, subordinate to the City Council. The mayor also chairs the City Board and leads political cooperation.
Deputy Mayor for Urban Environment Johanna Laisaari
Johanna Laisaari served as Helsinki's Deputy Mayor for Education during the previous council term. She holds an eMBA, a masters of law in court training, and a bachelor’s degree in law.
She has previously served as Secretary General of the Finnish Government’s National Child Strategy, Project Manager of the Turvassa project for the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters, and Senior Adviser to the Finnish Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Tuula Haatainen. Laisaari is currently on leave from her position of Senior Adviser to the National Child Strategy.
She has served since 2017 as both a councillor and deputy councillor on the Helsinki City Council and in various other positions of trust.
Deputy Mayor of Education Reetta Vanhanen
Reetta Vanhanen served as Chair of the Helsinki City Council during the previous council term. She is a medical doctor and a specialist doctor of anaesthesiology and intensive care. Earlier she has worked as doctoral coach at the University of Helsinki and a health station and hospital doctor.
Vanhanen has served as the Helsinki City Council chair since 2023 and as a councillor since 2017, in addition to numerous other positions of trust.
Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure Paavo Arhinmäki
Paavo Arhinmäki served as the City of Helsinki’s Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure during the last council term and will continue in this same position. He has previously served as Finland’s minister of culture and sports, a member of the Finnish Parliament and, among other things, the chair of the Left Alliance and before that, its youth arm.
Arhinmäki has served as a Helsinki city councillor since 2001 and a member of the City Board from 2015–2019 and again since 2021.
From 2019–2021, he served as the Helsinki City Council’s second deputy chair. Arhinmäki has also served in numerous other positions of trust.
Deputy Mayor of Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Maarit Vierunen
Maarit Vierunen served as a member of the City Board during the previous council term. She holds a master’s degree in economics and is a CEFA (Certified EFFAS financial analyst).
Vierunen has worked as a finance manager for the City of Espoo since 2008. Among other things, she has previously worked as a stockbroker and financial assistant.
Vierunen has served as a Helsinki city councillor, City Board member and the National Coalition Party council group chair since 2021. She has also served in several other positions of trust.
