Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubbe won the first round of Finland’s presidential election on Sunday and was expected to face runner-up Pekka Haavisto in next month’s run-off.
Finnish public broadcaster YLE predicted that Stubbe would win in the first round of the presidential election with 27.3% of the vote, with former foreign minister Haavisto coming in second with 25.8%.
National Assembly Speaker Jussi Halaaho came in third with 18.6%.
With no candidate receiving more than a majority of votes, the projected results will force the race to go to a runoff between Mr. Stubbe and Mr. Haavisto on February 11th.
YLE’s predictions, which have been highly accurate in past elections, are mathematical models calculated based on advance voting and a certain number of Sunday votes, based on official data provided by the Legal Registration Center. Exit polls are generally not used in Finland.
Mr. Stubb (55) and Mr. Hervist (65) were the main candidates in the election.
Some 4.5 million voters chose among nine candidates to succeed the country’s hugely popular President Sauli Niinisto, whose second six-year term expires in March. He was not eligible for re-election.
Polling stations across the country closed at 8pm (6pm Irish time). The initial turnout was 74.9%.
Stubbe represents the Conservative National Union Party, which led Finland’s government from 2014 to 2015, while Haavisto, a veteran politician and former UN diplomat and member of the Green League, is running as an independent candidate for the third time.
Unlike most European countries, the Finnish president has executive power in shaping foreign and security policy, especially when dealing with countries outside the European Union such as the United States, Russia, and China.
The President also serves as the Supreme Commander of the Finnish Armed Forces, a particularly important task in the current European security environment.
The main themes of the election were foreign and security issues, including Finland’s recent membership in NATO, future policy toward Russia, increased security cooperation with the United States, and the need to continue supporting Ukraine both militarily and with humanitarian aid. It was a matter of policy.
Finland’s new head of state will begin his six-year term in March in a markedly different geopolitical and security situation in Europe than that of incumbent Niinistö after the 2018 election.
Abandoning decades of military non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland became NATO’s 31st member state in April, but Russia’s Vladimir, who shares an 832-mile border with the Nordic nation,・This caused a lot of trouble for President Putin.
Finland’s membership in NATO has made it a front-line state in the Western military alliance against Russia, and the escalating war in Ukraine has elevated the president’s status as a leader in security policy.
As foreign minister, Haavisto signed Finland’s historic NATO accession treaty last year and played a key role in the accession process alongside Niinistö and former Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Finland’s western neighbor Sweden will join NATO in the near future, and Hungary, the last holdout, is expected to ratify the Stockholm offer by the end of February.