Malax (; , ) is a municipality in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Malax is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Malax is approximately , while the Vaasa sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland.
Malax covers an area of of which is water.
Malax is a bilingual municipality with Finnish language and Swedish language as its official languages. The population consists of Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages.
Name
The town's Swedish name has been recorded as
Malax () and
Madelax (by), beginning in the 15th century. The name descends from Finnish
Madelaksi, from
("burbot") + ("bay"), where
made- was shortened to
ma- in Swedish. The river running through the town is known as
Malax river, but its tributary in
Laihia,
Madesjoki, retains the older
made- elemenet. The Finnish name
maalahti was in turn reborrowed from the Swedish form.
Politics
Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Malax:
-
Swedish People's Party 82.7%
-
Social Democratic Party 7.8%
-
Christian Democrats 2.9%
-
Finns Party 2.5%
-
Centre Party 1.5%
-
National Coalition Party 0.9%
-
Left Alliance 0.8%
-
Green League 0.3%
External links
