NATO newcomer Finland presidential election heads to run-off

Updated on January 28, 2024 at 2:55 PM ET

HELSINKI – Former 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 Haavisto, a former foreign minister, coming in second with 25.8%. Parliament 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 a runoff between Mr. Stubbe and Mr. Hervist 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 not normally used in Finland.

The election, chosen by approximately 4.5 million voters, pitted Mr. Stubbe, 55, who led the Finnish government from 2014 to 2015 as head of the conservative National Union Party, and Mr. Haavisto, 65, who is running for the third time. ) was the main candidate. He is the successor to the hugely popular President Sauli Niinistö, whose second six-year term expires in March. He was not eligible for re-election.

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 Supreme Commander of the Finnish Armed Forces, a particularly important task in the current European security environment.

The national poll closed at 8 p.m., with approximately 4.5 million people eligible to vote for Finland’s new head of state among nine candidates (six men and three women).

“I look forward to strong leadership in the current world situation,” said Iv Kinnunen, who voted at a polling station in the center of the capital, Helsinki.

Finland’s new head of state will begin his six-year term in March in a significantly different geopolitical and security situation in Europe than that of incumbent Niinistö after the 2018 election.

Finland became NATO’s 31st member state in April, abandoning decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Russia’s Vladimir, which shares an 832-mile border with the Nordic nation, This greatly angered President Putin.

Finland’s entry into NATO, which has made it the Western military alliance’s frontline state against Russia, and the escalating war in Ukraine, just 600 miles from Finland’s border, have elevated the president’s status as a leader in security policy.

In keeping with Finnish politics, where consensus tends to be reached, months of campaigning has been going well among the candidates. The two countries agree on key foreign policy issues, including Finland’s future policy toward Russia, strengthened security cooperation with the United States, and the need to continue supporting Ukraine both militarily and with humanitarian assistance.

Joining the military alliance “also means that NATO should have a new Arctic region, because if Finland and Sweden join, NATO will become more powerful in the Arctic region,” Haavist said. told The Associated Press during a final campaign event at a music bar. Late Saturday outside Helsinki.

As foreign minister, Haavisto, a member of the Green League and running as an independent, played a key role in the accession process, signing Finland’s historic NATO accession treaty last year.

Western neighbor Sweden is expected to join NATO in the near future, and Hungary, the last holdout, is expected to ratify the Stockholm offer by the end of February.

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