Finland’s former head of government Stubb will be the country’s next president: in the runoff election he prevailed against the Green Party politician Haavisto. He already congratulated his opponent.
The conservative former head of government Alexander Stubb narrowly won the runoff election for the presidency in Finland. After 96.6 percent of the votes were counted, Stubb was ahead with 51.7, according to public broadcaster YLE. His opponent, the 65-year-old Green Party politician and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, had 48.3 percent. Haavisto admitted defeat and congratulated Stubb on his victory.
The Green politician Haavisto only narrowly had to admit defeat.
Ukraine war changed attitude towards Russia
In the first round of voting two weeks ago, Stubb and Haavisto received the most votes of all nine candidates. In doing so, they eliminated other heavyweights in Finnish politics such as the right-wing populist parliament speaker Jussi Halla-aho and the former EU currency commissioner Olli Rehn. Stubb received 27.2 percent of the vote, Haavisto 25.8 percent. Because none of the candidates achieved an absolute majority, a runoff election took place between the two strongest candidates.
Stubb succeeds Sauli Niinistö. Niinistö was not allowed to run for president again after two six-year terms. As was common practice in Finland for many years, he pursued a foreign policy focused on diplomacy, particularly towards his neighbor Russia. Because of his initially good relations with President Vladimir Putin, he was nicknamed the “Putin Whisperer.”
However, with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the country’s attitude changed and Niinistö led Finland into NATO – also with the active support of Haavisto, who, as then foreign minister under Prime Minister Sanna Marin, signed the NATO accession certificate in April 2023.
All candidates for the state leadership had announced a tough stance towards the government in Moscow during the election campaign. Stubb recently told Reuters in an interview: “Politically, there will be no relations with the Russian president or the Russian political leadership until they end the war in Ukraine.” The 55-year-old is committed to deeper integration into NATO, which could also include stationing alliance troops in Finland.
President with more powers
Unlike in Germany, the president in Finland is elected directly by the people. It also plays a more active role in politics than in many other European countries. His most important tasks include deciding on foreign and security policy together with the government, appointing members of the government and approving laws. He is also Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces. However, he largely stays out of domestic politics.
Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia. With regard to its large neighbor to the east, the EU country had been trying for a long time to find an appropriate East-West balance. However, as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine and the subsequent Finnish accession to NATO, relations with Moscow have deteriorated drastically.
The crossings along the Russian-Finnish border have been closed for several months, and just a few days ago the Finnish government extended this measure until mid-April. The Finnish government accuses the Russian authorities of deliberately bringing asylum seekers to the border without the necessary documents in order to cause problems for Finland. Both Stubb and Haavisto are considered pro-European and strong supporters of Ukraine. The election is therefore not expected to have any major impact on Finland’s Russia policy.