The Finnish presidential election has been covered by many major foreign media.
In the foreign media, the Finnish presidential election is written primarily from the perspective of security policy and Finland’s relationship with Russia.
For example French newspaper Le Monde says in the title of his election story that security is at the core of elections.
The newspaper illustrates the tense situation by saying that the president does not Sauli Niinistö has not been in contact with Russia Vladimir Putin after Finland applied for membership of the military alliance NATO in the spring of 2022.
US newspaper The New York Times states in the title of his article that Finland is now voting for the president for the first time as a member of NATO. According to the newspaper, security has been the most important theme of the elections.
According to The New York Times, the next president will have big boots to fill after the very popular Sauli Niinistö.
Al Jazeera followed in Arab countries on the other hand, a political researcher has made headlines Minna Ålander’s the quote that voters are looking for a “mini-Niinistö”.
Also German Broadcasting Corporation’s Tageschau news site focuses on security policy in his article and states in his title that everyone in the election campaign agrees on this topic.
The candidates include Stubb, Haavisto and Halla-aho
Among the candidates, foreign media have paid attention to the coalition in particular to Alexander Stubbthe association of voters and the greens Pekka Haavisto and basic Finns Jussi Halla-aho.
British newspaper The Guardian has put Stubb’s quote in the title of his article, according to which foreign policy is vital for Finland. Also the Politico website tells about Stubb’s return to Finnish politics in his election story.
Swedish public radio SVT writes that Stubb might become Finland’s first Finno-Swedish president Gustaf Mannerheim after.
The Guardian says that Haavisto could become Finland’s first green and homosexual president. Newsweek Newsweek on the other hand, talks about the presidential election through an interview focusing largely on Haavisto’s security policy.
SVT headlines his story about Jussi Halla-aho has raised the possibility that Halla-aho can “bang”, i.e. rise to the second round. SVT reminds at the beginning of its story that Halla-aho has been convicted of incitement against a national group.
Swedish afternoon newspaper Aftonbladet on the other hand, in his story commenting on the presidential election, he mainly presents the election as a duel between Stubbs and Haavisto.
Many media do not report
In many of the world’s big media, the Finnish presidential election has not been taken into account at all. For example, Finnish elections are not mentioned on the websites of the American CNN or the British BBC at the time of publication of this story.
In Aftonbladet’s commentary story, it is directly admitted that the Finnish presidential elections usually do not attract attention in Sweden. According to the author, there should be interest this time because the security political situation is so tense.
Watch the video to see what President Sauli Niinistö said after voting:
The actual election day of the first round of the presidential elections is today, Sunday. Voting continues until 8 p.m.
Added story on 28.1. at 17:28 with stories about Haaviston’s candidacy.