Finland has elected a new president to take over top job in NATO’s newcomer and Russia’s neighbor

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HELSINKI, Feb 12, (AP): Finland has a new president after former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb narrowly won a runoff vote Sunday for the key post in this Nordic country. Stubb, who takes over in March, will steer Finland’s foreign and security policy, including integrating the NATO newcomer into the alliance’s core structures.
The final tally 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 contenders 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 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 leader of the nation.
The head of state also commands the military – a key role after Finland joined NATO in April 2023 in the aftermath of Russia’s attack on Ukraine a year earlier. Finnish media outlets on Monday pointed out how Europe’s security is at stake as never before since World War II, due to Russia’s invasion.

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