Pekka Haavisto has had a long and distinguished career on the domestic and diplomatic stages, but his third tilt at the office of president he faces a little more scrutiny this time as one of the favourites.
His record as Foreign Minister in the Marin government has been criticised by right-wing opponents, leaving him in the unfamiliar position of trying to defend his record rather than running an insurgent campaign.
This time round he is running as an independent backed by the signatures of thousands of voters, in an attempt to broaden his support beyond the red-green backing that is widely expected to swing behind him if he ends up in the second round runoff.
That diversifying of support in a polarised political climate is a challenge for Haavisto, a former leader of the Green League who also served as Finland's foreign minister from 2019 until 2023.
Having previously run for president in 2012 and 2018 on the Green League ticket, Haavisto decided this time to stand as an independent candidate, free of party affiliation.
Haavisto was the surprise story of the 2012 presidential election, finishing second in the first round of voting with nearly 19 percent, before garnering over one million ballots (37.4 percent) in the second round run-off.
He was the first openly gay candidate, the first Green League member, and the first male candidate to have completed civilian service — instead of military — to reach the second stage of a presidential election.
Haavisto lost out to Sauli Niinistö in 2012, and again in 2018, when the incumbent Niinistö secured 62.7 percent of first round preferences, thereby negating the need for a second round. Haavisto saw his voter support drop in 2018 to just over 12 percent in the first round.
This is part of a series of profiles on candidates in the presidential election. Our really simple guide provides some essential information about the race to become Finland's next president.
From journalist to politician
Haavisto graduated in 1976 from Helsinki's Munkkivuori School — where his father was rector and his mother a chemistry teacher — and began studying social sciences at the University of Helsinki.
He did not however complete his studies and in the late 1970s began working as a journalist, first with the culture magazine Komposti-lehti until 1982, and then with its successor Suomi-lehti until 1987. Haavisto also became editor of the Green League’s official newspaper before moving into politics.
In 1987, he successfully ran for election to the Finnish parliament for the first time at the age of just 29, winning re-election in 1991 but losing his seat in the 1995 election.
Despite missing out on re-election, Haavisto was appointed environment minister in the first Paavo Lipponen government— making political history in the process as he became the first representative of a green party in Europe to hold a cabinet post.
From mediator to minister
Haavisto moved onto the international stage in 1999, when he began working for the UN.
He undertook environmental work in the former Yugoslavia and in Romania, as well as representing the EU in the Darfur peace talks.
Haavisto returned to Finnish politics in 2007 when he was elected to parliament, and he has been re-elected in every parliamentary election since.
He was appointed Minister for International Development in 2013, a position he held for a few months under then-PM Alexander Stubb — his main rival in this year's presidential race — before moving on to become the Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for African Crises.
Although Haavisto's sexual orientation was the subject of much speculation in the 1990s, it wasn't publicly revealed until 2002 when he registered his partnership with Antonio Flores, an Ecuadorian man he met in Colombia in 1997.
Al-Hol, Afghanistan and Nato
The Green League saw their best-ever result in the 2019 parliamentary elections, and joined the incoming coalition as the third largest governing party under the leadership of Prime Minister Antti Rinne (SDP).
Haavisto was appointed to the position of foreign minister in the newly formed cabinet, and remained in the role when Sanna Marin replaced Rinne as SDP party leader and prime minister later that same year.
Haavisto's time as foreign minister coincided with a tumultuous period in Finnish foreign politics, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland's decision to join Nato, and controversies over repatriations from Syria as well as evacuations from Afghanistan all occurring under his watch.
The repatriation controversy centred around a group of Finnish children who were found to be living in the Al-hol camp in northern Syria in 2019. Haavisto pushed for their quick return to Finland, sidelining his head of consular affairs Pasi Tuominen in the process.
Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee later found there was no basis for Haavisto to be prosecuted over his handling of the repatriations, but he was reprimanded for acting in contravention of the Administration Law and the Foreign Relations Act.
The evacuation of Finnish citizens and embassy staff from Afghanistan in August 2021 — shortly after the Taliban returned to power — also caused controversy, as locally sub-contracted security guards were left off the evacuation list.
Some of the guards were eventually evacuated, but the process left Finland's evacuation less comprehensive than those implemented by some other western countries.
Haavisto also had a prominent role as Finland moved towards joining Nato in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and he ultimately signed the instrument of accession in April 2023 that saw Finland formally join the alliance.
Third time's a charm?
Haavisto officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election last summer, and became the early frontrunner in opinion polls.
However, Alexander Stubb took the lead in Yle's survey of voter sentiment in November, and then stretched his advantage over Haavisto in the most recent Yle poll, published in mid-December.
When announcing his third presidential run, Haavisto, 65, said he wanted the president's office to unite the country as the main reason he was standing as an independent candidate rather than running on the Green League ticket.
"The presidential election is a distinctly personal choice and I have been contacted by many who say that they never voted for the Greens but that they'd like to participate through campaign work or by voting for me," Haavisto said.
But he will need to garner support from across the Finnish political spectrum if he is to prove the old adage that the third time's a charm.
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