Finland's presidential election went as polls predicted on Sunday evening, with Alexander Stubb (NCP) taking top spot and his Green rival Pekka Haavisto joining him in a second round run-off to decide who replaces Sauli Niinistö after his twelve years as head of state. ”There's a certain humility from that result,” Stubb told Yle after the forecast result was published. ”We have at this stage gotten the kind of result for which we can be grateful and humble.” Stubb had led the polls for much of the campaign, before a tightening in the final stages suggested Finns Party rival Jussi Halla-aho could narrow the gap. Those polls proved to be accurate, with Halla-aho drawing close to the share of the vote achieved by his party in last year's parliamentary election as turnout hit 74.9 percent, up from 69.9 percent in 2018.
But that wasn't enough to reach the second round, despite being the nationalist party's best presidential election result in history. ”I have to be satisfied with the result,” said Halla-aho. ”It is better than my expectations. My competitors got more votes, that's how democracy works.” Haavisto, the Green MP who has run for president twice before, ended up in a second round run-off that will repeat his 2012 performance when he was up against Sauli Niinistö. ”This is a really great result,” said Haavisto. ”Full speed ahead towards the second round.” He suggested that poverty and inequality were present in the political conversation. ”Those kinds of concerns people do have, and they want a president that understands Finnish people's worries.” Olli Rehn, running backed by a voters' association, managed to attract more than 15 percent of the vote, far outstripping his party's support in the parliamentary election. ”I am thankful to every voter, we had an excellent campaign with the citizens' movement right across the country,” said Rehn, who did particularly well in eastern, rural districts. Like many of his competitors, he declined to say which candidate he would support in the second round.
Left Alliance candidate Li Andersson and her Social Democratic counterpart Jutta Urpilainen both got less than five percent of the vote, potentially suffering from possible supporters switching to back Pekka Haavisto. Left Alliance MP Paavo Arhinmäki, who ran for president in 2012, said half the votes were up for grabs in the second round. ”People already voted for the second round. That was apparent in Li's and Jutta's results. I was expecting a better turnout for Li Andersson, he said. Former president Tarja Halonen said left-wing candidates have a hard time in 2024. ”I was able to be president during a particularly optimistic period. Times are tougher now,” said two-time SDP president Halonen about Jutta Urpilainen's low result.
”I still hope that those supporting social democratic ideology find their way back.” Foreign policy expert Mika Aaltola, who did lead the polls for a time well before the election, ended up with less than two percent of the vote but said he was happy that foreign and security policy were on the agenda. ”It'll take some time, years, before I take on something like this again,” said Aaltola. Christian Democrat Sari Essayah got 1.5 percent of the vote, declining to advise her voters on whom to support in the second round. ”Citizens can vote according to their preference,” said Essayah. Harry ”Hjallis” Harkimo also declined to say who he would back between Stubb and Haavisto. ”They have the same opinions about everything,” said Harkimo. The second round takes place on 11 February. Advance voting will be from 31 January to 6 February.
