Stub, Haavisto lead in Presidential poll to contest in 2nd round

Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto will contest in the second round of the presidential poll as they became the top two among the nine candidates in the first round of the election held on Sunday.

As none of the candidates bagged more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round resulting the second round ballot in the election scheduled to be held on February 11, according to the poll results announced by the Ministry of Justice late Sunday night.

As per the results, Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) candidate Stubb narrowly led in the first round with 8,82,113 (27.2%) votes while his nearest contestant Haavisto of Vihreä Liitto (Green Party) secured 8,36,357 (25.8%) votes.

Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) leader and Speaker of the Parliament Jussi Halla-aho secured the third place in the election with 6,15,487 (19%) votes followed by former lawmaker and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn of Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) with 4,96,518 (15.3%) votes, Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) Chairperson Li Andersson with 1,58,328 (4.9%) votes, former Chairperson of Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland -SDP) Jutta Urpilainen with 1,40,802 (4.3%) votes, SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland-CD) Chairperson Sari Essayah with 47,820 (1.5%) votes, Independent candidate Mika Aaltola with 47,426 (1.5%) votes and Liike Nyt (Movement Now) lawmaker Harry Harkimo with 17,013 (0.5%) votes.

A total of 32,51,793 voters out of total 4546041 cast votes in the election in home and abroad and the turnout was 71.5%. Out of the votes 19,50,933 were cast in advance while 13,00860 on the election day.

The turnout in Finland was 74.9 percent while the turnout abroad was 16.2%.

The authority, however, rejected 9929 votes which is 0.3% of the total votes cast.

The advance voting in the second round of the presidential election will take place from January 31 to February 6 in Finland and from January 31 to February 3 abroad.

The term of office of the President of the Republic begins on the month following the election or on March 1, 2024.