Sonkajärvi

Sonkajärvi [ sɔŋkɑjærvi ] is a municipality in the Finnish Savo region, with 4496 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012). It lies in the northern part of the Northern Savonia landscape on the border of Kainuu.

Overview

The community Sonkajärvi has two population centers: the parish village of Sonkajärvi, also known as Rutakko, and the parish village of Sukeva. Sukeva is located on State Road 5, which cuts through Finland in the north-south direction, 25 kilometers away from the community center. In addition, the municipality includes the villages Aittokoski, Harva - Petäys, Järvenpää - Kukkopuro, Jyrkkä, Koirakoski, Mansikkavirta, Oinasjärvi, Paisua, Pohjoismäki, Savonvirta, Sonkakoski, Toivakko, Vännimäki and Kainuunmäki. The largest employers of Sonkajärvi are the local government, the prison of Sukeva and manufacturers of prefabricated houses Finndomo.

Particularly well known is Sonkajärvi for the world championships held annually in the Wife Carrying ( Finnish eukonkanto ). The participants have to wear a woman over an obstacle course. The winning team is then rewarded with the weight of women in beer.

Policy

Parish council

As in most rural areas of Finland is in Sonkajärvi the rural - liberal Centre Party, the largest party. In council she missed despite significant losses in the local elections in 2012 with about 44 % of the vote and 13 out of 27 deputies only just the absolute majority of seats. The right-wing populist True Finns are represented by five, the Social Democrats with four seats in the municipal council. Furthermore, represented in the council are the Left Alliance and the conservative National Coalition Party, each with two mandates. The Christian Democrats have a representative.

Sons and daughters

• Päivi Räsänen (* 1959), politician
• Ilkka Pikkarainen ( born 1981 ), ice hockey player