The Varuboden-Osla co-op elections affect us all

It is worth voting in VBO’s co-op elections — with turnout under 20 per cent, a single vote has an unusually large influence on the outcome. This April the Varuboden-Osla co-op elections are being held, in which the VBO delegate assembly is elected for the next four years. The delegate assembly gets to influence both VBO’s and, more broadly, SOK’s operations, and represents all customer-owners in the direction of the co-operative.

Why is a cooperative different from a regular shop?

Co-operative stores are different from ordinary stores in that as co-operatives their task is not to generate profit for shareholders, as with companies, but to obtain services and/or products for co-operative members at favourable prices. For Varuboden-Osla and other SOK co-operatives, that means primarily food. Varuboden-Osla could therefore very easily ease the situation for its customer-owners in these difficult times by further reducing food prices.

Co-operative stores also have a local impact in other ways. They are significant employers — VBO, for example, employs almost 1,000 people. VBO also supports local entrepreneurs by favouring local food. A co-operative can promote healthy and sustainable choices, for example through pricing. A local shop can support the vitality of villages by bringing several services together under one roof. In the co-operative’s delegate assembly it is possible to influence these and many other matters!

How can you make a difference by voting?

Although the co-operative’s delegate assembly exercises significant power, the turnout in the previous elections was under 20 percent. In these elections every vote therefore counts — do remember to use yours!

A turnout of under 20 percent means that in practice a small fraction of customer-owners decides the entire composition of the delegate assembly. VBO has around 80,000 customer-owners — if fewer than one in five votes, the result is determined by just a few thousand ballots. In other words, a single candidate can be elected with only a few hundred votes. That is exceptional in any election: rarely can one person influence the outcome so easily. In that sense the co-op elections are a good reminder that voting is always worth it.

Updated 15 September 2026. The election was held in April 2024 and turnout rose to 22.4 percent, up from 15.6 in the previous election. The under-20-percent figure I assumed was therefore exceeded, but the core of the argument still holds: four in five customer-owners did not vote, and a seat could still be won with a few hundred ballots. The next co-op elections are in 2028.

Read more about civic participation and the future of Kirkkonummi: why the municipality must plan for the long term, why responsibility lies with us adults and how our local nature is one of our greatest strengths.