HELSINKI: Finns on Sunday will choose a new president to lead the country in a new role within NATO, after Finland ended decades of non-alignment and joined the Western defense alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Headed to vote for.
The Nordic country joined NATO last year, prompting threats of “countermeasures” from its much larger neighbor. In December, Finland closed its entire border with Russia to passenger traffic in response to a surge in migrants attempting to cross the border. The Russian government denied the charges against Finland, which was sending the migrants.
All nine candidates have pledged to take a tough stance on Russia if elected president, and their role will be to work closely with the government to lead foreign and security policy and support NATO. He will represent the country at the meeting and at the same time act as Finland’s supreme commander. defense army.
Alexander Stubbe of the center-right National Union has emerged as the frontrunner, with recent opinion polls showing him receiving 22-27% support in the first round, ahead of Pekka Haavisto of the liberal Green Party. This is slightly more than 20-23%.
Jussi Halaaho of the nationalist Finland Party is far behind Haavisto’s 15-18%.
According to data from the Ministry of Justice, around 45% of eligible voters, or 1.9 million Finns, had cast early votes ahead of Sunday, and as soon as the polls closed after 18:00 GMT, a partial vote consisting of early voting It is expected that the results will be clear.
Published at Dawn on January 29, 2024