For Finns, the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, February 11th marked the end of an era. Sauli Niinistö, 75, who was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2018, has resigned. This thoughtful man, who brought his country into NATO after invading Ukraine, will probably go down in the history books as one of the country’s most popular presidents since independence in 1917.
After an election campaign in which security issues were the main issue, Alexander Stubb, 55, who was popular in public opinion polls, ultimately won with a closer-than-expected result. He won 51.6% of the vote, defeating environmental activist and former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, leaving him in the unfortunate position of second place for the third time.
Mr Stubb announced his candidacy as vice-president of the European Investment Bank in August 2023, six years after leaving politics and Finland for an international career, saying he would “answer the call of my homeland”. . He then became Director of the Department of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he has lived since 2020.
triathlete
On Sunday evening, accompanied by his wife, a British-born legal professional, and their two children, the Europhile, multilingual, international relations expert and triathlete declared himself the country’s 13th.th Being president was the “greatest honor” [his] He said he would use this position to “promote peace.”
His powers as president are limited to foreign policy, and he must make decisions in coordination with the government. During his campaign, he made it clear that his position on Russia was no different from Niinistö’s. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Finland has severed all political and diplomatic ties with its neighbors and decided to join NATO. Mr. Stubb made no secret of his support for NATO membership long before NATO’s candidacy was even on the table. He recently declared support for a “more European” NATO.
Like Niinistö, he belongs to the conservative National Union party, but that’s where the similarities end, with their sometimes strained relationship. During his campaign, Mr Stubb had to redouble his efforts to counter those who criticized his own “arrogance” and “spontaneousness”. These criticisms date back to when he briefly led the government during a controversial term from June 2014 to May 2015. One example of this was when he appeared at a press conference in August 2014 wearing shorts and flip-flops on a bicycle. This mission ended with the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election. This broader political failure was compounded by personal failures, and a year later, after becoming finance minister, he was ousted as leader of the party by current Prime Minister Petteri Orupo.
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