Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minusta on reilua, että jokainen saa äänestää sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa. - I think it is fair that everyone can vote for the party they want.

Literally Minusta on reilua is “From me it is fair” or “To me it is fair”.
Idiomatic English: “I think it’s fair” / “In my opinion it’s fair.”

Minusta = “from me” (elative of minä), a common way to express opinions.
You can often replace it with Minun mielestäni on reilua… (“In my opinion it is fair…”).

So the structure Minusta on + adjective(-a) means “I find it + adjective”.

Why is it reilua and not reilu?

Reilua is the partitive form of the adjective reilu (“fair”).

In Finnish, when you comment on something in a general, evaluative way with olla (“to be”), the adjective often appears in the partitive:

On hauskaa, että… – “It’s fun that…”
On tärkeää, että… – “It’s important that…”
Minusta on reilua, että… – “I think it’s fair that…”

So reilua is used because it’s this “commenting / evaluating” construction (partitive predicative).

What is the role of että in this sentence?

Että introduces a content clause, similar to English “that”:

Minusta on reilua, että jokainen saa äänestää…
= “I think it’s fair that everyone can vote…”

The entire clause että jokainen saa äänestää sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa is the thing being judged as “fair”.

What does saa mean here, and why not voi?

Saa comes from saada and here it means “is allowed to / may / gets to”, not “gets” in the sense of receiving an object.

jokainen saa äänestää = “everyone is allowed to vote / everyone may vote”

If you used voi (“can, is able to”), jokainen voi äänestää would focus more on ability or possibility, not on permission or right. In a fairness context, saa (permission/right) is more natural.

Why is it äänestää sitä puoluetta and not äänestää puolueen?

The verb äänestää (“to vote for”) always takes the object in the partitive, not in the genitive/accusative:

äänestää puoluetta – “to vote for a party”
äänestää häntä – “to vote for him/her”

So you must use the partitive form puoluetta, and sitä agrees with it:

sitä puoluetta = “that (specific) party” in the partitive.

Using puolueen would be ungrammatical with äänestää in this sense.

Why do we have both sitä and puoluetta? Could you just say äänestää puoluetta?

Yes, äänestää puoluetta by itself is correct and means “to vote for a party.”

In this sentence, sitä puoluetta does two things:

Sitä (“that”) makes it clear we are talking about a particular party that someone chooses.
Sitä acts as the element that the relative pronoun jota refers back to in the next clause:
- sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa = “that party which (one) wants”.

So sitä puoluetta forms a natural bridge to the relative clause jota haluaa.

What does jota mean, and why not joka or mitä?

Jota is the partitive singular of the relative pronoun joka (“which, that, who”).

joka = nominative (subject)
jota = partitive (object)

Here, jota refers back to sitä puoluetta and functions as the object of haluta:

haluta jotain – “to want something” (object in partitive)
jota haluaa – “which (one) wants”

You don’t use mitä because you are referring to a specific noun (se puolue) already mentioned, so you need the relative joka/jota, not the interrogative/indefinite mikä/mitä.

Why is haluaa in the 3rd person singular, and whose wanting is it?

Haluaa is 3rd person singular, present tense: “(he/she/one) wants”.

The implied subject of haluaa is the same as the subject of saa äänestää, i.e. jokainen (“everyone”). Finnish doesn’t repeat the pronoun:

että jokainen saa äänestää sitä puoluetta, jota (hän) haluaa
= “…that everyone can vote for the party that they want.”

English uses “they want” for generic “everyone”; Finnish just leaves the subject understood.

What does the whole phrase sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa literally mean?

Literally:

sitä puoluetta – “that party” (in the partitive)
jota haluaa – “which (one) wants”

So sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa =
“that party which (one) wants” → more naturally: “whichever party one wants” / “the party that one wants.”

Could you replace Minusta on reilua with Minun mielestäni on reilua? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Minun mielestäni on reilua, että jokainen saa äänestää…

Both Minusta and Minun mielestäni mean “in my opinion”.
Minusta is a bit shorter and more colloquial; Minun mielestäni is slightly more explicit and can feel a bit more formal or careful. The meaning here is effectively the same.

Could you drop Minusta entirely and just say On reilua, että…?

Yes:

On reilua, että jokainen saa äänestää sitä puoluetta, jota haluaa.

This means “It is fair that everyone can vote for the party they want.”
Without Minusta, it sounds more like a general statement of fact or shared value, instead of explicitly saying “I think…”.