Bo-Göran Åstrand was elected the next Bishop of Porvoo

Bo-Göran Åstrand was elected the next Bishop of Porvoo with 309 votes. The second candidate, Sixten Ekstrand, received 265 votes. On 11 April 2019, the Diocesan Chapter of Porvoo performed a recount of votes and confirmed the results in the Porvoo episcopal elections.

Voter turnout in the episcopal elections was 87.9 percent; the 704 eligible voters were the diocese’s priests, lecturer and lay electors. Of the votes cast, 43 were blank and two were rejected.

Åstrand will take office on 1 September 2019, which is also the date the current Bishop of Porvoo, Björn Vikström, will be taking up his new post as a lecturer of theological ethics and religious philosophy at Åbo Akademi University.

Consecration of the new bishop will take place on 29 September 2019 in the Porvoo Cathedral. Born in 1964, Åstrand has been the vicar of the Jakobstad Swedish Parish since 2007. Before his vicarage, he worked as a parish pastor and chaplain in the same parish from 1991 to 2007. Åstrand has also held important elected positions at the church, acting for example as a member of the General Synod in 2004–2007 and again from 2012. He was ordained in 1991.