Tom Little/Reuters
National Union Party candidate Alexander Stubb is pictured at an election night event in Helsinki on Sunday.
helsinki, finland
Reuters
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Alexander Stubbe of the center-right National Union party narrowly won Finland’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating Pekka Haavisto of the liberal Green Party, who conceded defeat.
Stubb is pro-European and a strong supporter of Ukraine’s hard-line stance against Russia.
According to data from the Ministry of Justice, he was declared the winner in the run-off with 51.6% of the vote, compared to 48.4% for Haavisto, with 99.7% of the votes counted.
Finland’s new head of state will be responsible for security and foreign policy, including the recently admitted NATO member state’s stance towards Russia, with which it shares a long border.
In televised remarks, Stubb called his victory “the greatest honor” of his life.
“I feel calm and humble, but at the same time, of course, I am very happy and grateful that so many Finns voted and that I was able to serve as President of the Republic of Finland,” he said.
Mr. Stubb, a former prime minister, won 27.2% of the vote in the first round on January 28, to Mr. Haavisto’s 25.8%. He has been leading Harvist in public opinion polls, with a recent lead of 6 to 8 points.
Mr. Haavisto congratulated Mr. Stubb as the “13th President of Finland.”
“I believe that Finland has got a good president for the republic. Alexander Stubb is experienced and qualified for the job. I will no longer talk,” he said.
Emi Korhonen/Lehtikuva/Reuters
National Coalition Party (NCP) presidential candidate Alexander Stubbe (center) reacts to the preliminary voting results at an election reception in Helsinki, Finland, on February 11, 2024.
The vote marks a new turn for Finland, which for decades has elected its president to promote diplomacy, especially with neighboring Russia, and has chosen not to join the military alliance to ease tensions between Russia and NATO. It heralds a new era.
But after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Finns changed their minds, and in a rapid U-turn, the country joined NATO last April.
Mr. Stubb, now under the security umbrella of the Western alliance, has earned the nickname “Putin’s Whisperer” for his past close ties with the Russian leader, and is retiring after two six-year terms. He will succeed Mr. Sauli Niinisto.
Mr. Stubb will play a central role in defining Finland’s NATO policy, work closely with the government to lead overall foreign and security policy, and serve as supreme military commander. .
“My heartiest congratulations to Alexander Stubb. Finland is our close friend and partner,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in a post on X.
Lauri, a 36-year-old IT worker who voted in Helsinki, cited Russia as the main challenge facing the new president.
“Obviously, we all know we’re in a difficult position, looking at Russia, the whole mess of the world today. So that’s the biggest threat we have, the biggest I think it’s a problem,” he told Reuters on Saturday.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Stubb said there would be no Russian pillar in Finland’s foreign policy for the time being.
“Politically, we have no ties to the Russian president or the Russian political leadership until we stop the war in Ukraine.”
Stubb favors closer NATO cooperation, including allowing nuclear weapons to be shipped throughout Finland and keeping some NATO troops permanently stationed in Finland. However, he does not support storing nuclear weapons in Finland.
“Nuclear weapons are sometimes a guarantee of peace,” Stubb said during Tuesday’s debate.
Russia has threatened to retaliate against Finland after it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and signed a defense cooperation agreement with the United States in December.