The winner of the Finnish presidential election on Sunday night was Alexander Stubb, the presidential candidate for the National Coalition. Stubb narrowly defeated Independent Green candidate Pekka Haavisto, with 51.6 percent of the final-round votes compared to Haavisto’s 48.4 percent, as reported by the Finnish Ministry of Justice.
“I can promise that I will do my best every single day for this task,” Stubb said after being confirmed Finland’s next president. Stubb also commented that Finland is entering a new era, and he hopes to continue the progress made under former president Sauli Niinistö.
Stubb is set to be sworn in as Finland’s 13th president on March 1, succeeding Sauli Niinistö who has reached the end of his term. Election analyst Sami Borg noted that the result was the closest in the era of a direct popular vote in Finland.
Throughout the election evening, Haavisto’s share of the votes continued to increase, but he was unable to bridge the gap with Stubb’s lead. The voter turnout for the election was 70.7 percent, lower than the 75 percent turnout in the initial round.
Stubb, aged 55, has a diverse political background, previously serving as a member of the European Parliament, member of the Finnish parliament, Finnish prime minister, foreign minister, and deputy director general of the European Investment Bank. He holds a Ph.D. in international politics and is fluent in Swedish, Finnish, English, French, and German.
In Finland, a presidential election is held every six years through a direct popular vote. In this year’s initial round on Jan. 28, nine candidates competed, with the top two advancing to the final round.
