Ehdottaja

Ehdottaja is a Finnish noun meaning “nomination proposer” or “nominator”—the person or body that nominates someone for a position, office, or award. It is formed from the verb ehdottaa “to propose, nominate” with the agent suffix -ja. In everyday Finnish, the more common term for someone who runs for election is ehdokas, not ehdottaja, while ehdottaja refers specifically to the actor or institution that makes a nomination.

In political contexts, a party or committee may act as ehdottaja by presenting candidates to voters or to appointing authorities. In organizational settings, an ehdottaja may nominate individuals for board seats, committees, scholarships, awards, or other official roles. Nomination procedures are typically documented in meetings, resolutions, and nomination documents and may involve internal selections or formal endorsements.

Etymology: from ehdottaa “to propose, nominate,” with agent suffix -ja, yielding ehdottaja. The term is relatively specialized and mostly found in formal, administrative language; in everyday usage speakers tend to refer to the candidate (ehdokas) or to the nominating party rather than to the nominators themselves.

Related terms include ehdokas (candidate), ehdokkuus (candidacy), and nimitys (appointment).