Finland, in the second round of presidential elections

2024-01-29 08:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A second round of elections will be held within fifteen days in Finland. The two best candidates will face each other. Center-right candidate and former prime minister Alexander Stubb of the Finnish National Coalition Party leads the first round with 28% of the vote. This is the result after counting two-thirds of the votes.

In second place, and therefore also in the second round, is the Green Party liberal and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. He got 25% of the votes.

For Jussi Halla-aho of the Finnish Nationalist Party and former European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn, the presidential race is over in Helsinki. According to the first results of the count, they got just over 16 percent each.

Finland, in the second round of presidential elections

Alexander Stubb

The nine candidates have taken a tough stance on neighboring Russia during the election campaign if they are elected president of the European Union member state. The president is elected in Finland for a six-year term. Unlike Germany, for example, it is directly elected by the people.

It also plays a more active political role than in many other European countries. One of its main tasks is to decide, together with the government, the country's foreign and security policy, appoint the government and pass laws. The head of state is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Pekka Haavisto

Niinistö's re-election is not possible

Current President Niinistö was not allowed to run again after two six-year terms. He brought his country into NATO after decades of disengagement in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago. Finland joined the Western Defense Alliance in April 2023.

Russia then threatened to take “countermeasures.” In August, authorities in Helsinki recorded an increasing number of migrants crossing the 1,340-kilometer border between Finland and Russia without visas.

President Sauli Niinistö

The Finnish government suspected that behind it was a Russian strategy to destabilize the country internally. Therefore, Finland closed its eastern border in November.

There were also fears that Russian authorities were trying to manipulate the Finnish presidential election. According to Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, her country was well armed against such attempts to exert influence. No attempts at manipulation or influence were observed during the election campaign, Valtonen said.

According to the Foreign Minister, a member of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party, the Finnish population is very seasoned in this regard. "We do not allow anything to be dictated to us from outside"./ DW