After abandoning decades of non-alignment and joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Finland goes to the polls to elect a new President.
On paper, the second round of voting sees two opposing contenders: one centre-right candidate against a leftist-liberal one.
But behind the shadow game, when it comes to major issues of the day, the candidates have precious little that separates them – a fact that even MSM seems eager to highlight.
Reuters reported:
“Whichever of the two remaining candidates wins Finland’s presidential election on Sunday, the country’s new head of foreign and security policy will be a pro-European cosmopolitan and strong supporter of Ukraine.”
The second round of voting will elect the first president of the NATO-era Finland, a country now in constant tensions with neighboring Russia.
“Finland’s president works in close cooperation with the government and represents the country at NATO meetings, while also acting as a Commander-in-Chief of Finnish Defence Forces.
Former prime minister Alexander Stubb, of the National Coalition Party, narrowly won the first round of voting on Jan. 28, and leads former foreign minister, centre-left liberal Pekka Haavisto, by 6-8 percentage points in the polls.”
The Finish society, according to polls, is two thirds conservative and one third liberal, a fact that would suggest that centre-right Stubb is the clear favorite.
But the liberal candidate has his own ‘differential’, too.
“If Haavisto, running for president for a third time, achieves a surprise win, he would become Finland’s first openly gay president. His sexual orientation remains a factor for voters, however, with recent polls showing one in three saw the fact that he has a male partner as a reason not to back him.”
Stubb is ‘internationally oriented’ and in favour of deep NATO cooperation, which unfortunately means he may toy with the idea of hosting American nuclear weapons in the country.
“The question of the limits of Finland’s NATO role has been in the spotlight after the country signed a defense cooperation agreement with the U.S. in December, giving the U.S. military unimpeded access to 15 facilities and areas in Finland, where it can also store military equipment and ammunition.”
Finland has a 830-mile border with Russia. After managing to coexist with the neighbors during the cold war years of the Soviet Union, now Finland has joined NATO, in a move objected by Moscow.
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