New NATO member Finland elects a president set to keep up hard line on neighboring Russia
Finland is getting a new president after former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb narrowly won a runoff vote
HELSINKI — Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has narrowly won a runoff vote to become Finland's next president, who will steer security policy that includes integrating the new NATO member into the alliance at a time of concern over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The final tally from Sunday's runoff shows Stubb, of the center-right National Coalition Party, had 51.6% of the votes, while independent candidate and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto from the green left got 48.4% of the votes. The two were the top vote-getters in the second round of the election. Haavisto had served as Finland’s top diplomat in 2019-2023.
Stubb is taking over from the hugely popular President Sauli Niinistö, whose second six-year term expires next month and who wasn’t eligible for reelection.
A runoff was required after none of the original nine candidates got a majority of the votes in the first round on Jan. 28. In tradition with consensus-driven Finnish politics and no below-the-belt attacks during the campaign, Stubb visited Haavisto's election party event late Sunday after the result was clear.
“You're one of the nicest people I have ever met,” Stubb told his opponent Haavisto at the party event, according to Finnish broadcaster YLE.
The presidency is a key political post in this northern European country of 5.6 million people. Unlike in most European countries, the president of Finland holds executive power in formulating foreign and security policy together with the government.
But he is also expected to remain above the fray of day-to-day politics and stay out of domestic political disputes while acting as a moral
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