“Expectations are very high for the successor,” said Johanna Onislooma, a professor of political history at the University of Helsinki.
Finland shares a 1,335-kilometre-long border with Russia, along with its martial history. The neighbors have fought numerous wars over the centuries, and Finns have strong memories of the Winter War of 1939 and World War II, when their country fought the Soviet Union and lost territory. As the war in Ukraine continues and Finnish officials accuse Russia of efforts to destabilize their country, analysts say security is the primary issue on voters' minds.
Green Party presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto (right) poses for a selfie.credit: AP
That's why, they say, voters are looking for a president with the broadest possible foreign policy experience. The candidate pool reflects that.
“Even the liberal candidates have adopted a line emphasizing military preparedness and border security,” said Johanna Vorelma, a researcher at the Center for European Studies at the University of Helsinki.
Haavisto is running in his third presidential round after losing to Niinisto in the past two electoral cycles. Haavisto, the founder of the center-left Green Party, first ran for parliament in 1987 and has been a fixture in Finnish politics ever since, serving as a lawmaker, a UN official and in numerous government positions. Most recently, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2019 to 2023.
Staub is also a former Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister. A prominent member of the centre-right, he left Finnish politics in 2017 and swore not to return, but said the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed his mind.
The two candidates agree on most foreign policy issues, including NATO membership, securing the country's borders with Russia and how to deal with Moscow.
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This made the differences in their personalities more important to voters, according to analysts. Since the campaign season got into full swing last summer, candidates have toured Finland to meet voters at schools, gas stations, shopping malls and markets. Stapp, an Ironman triathlete, often appeared at sporting events. Haavisto adopted the stage name “DJ Pexi” and spun recordings at student events to attract younger voters.
The discussions were decent and polite, in contrast to parliamentary election campaigns, which are often noisy. Both Haavisto and Staub portrayed themselves as unifiers during the campaign, likely due to expectations that the election would go to a runoff.
Voter turnout in Finland, a country with a population of 5.6 million, tends to be around 70 percent or more in presidential elections. More than 1.8 million Finns, or 44% of the country's eligible voters, have cast ballots in early voting, according to preliminary data.
This article originally appeared on New York times.
