"Only" 46% for re-election of president Tarja Halonen

The first round of the presidential election in Finland was finished today. At eight o'clock the voting was over. Less than three hours later the votes were counted and summarized.

The president, Tarja Halonen, competed with seven candidates and scored 46%. Since she didn't reach the 50% threshold, there will be a second round against the center-right candidate Sauli Niinistö, who's scored 24%. This second round will, of course, be a mere formality. Correction: to my great surprise, the non-socialists united strongly behind Ninistö.

This 46% result was however considerably less than one would have guessed based on polling figures marking Halonen as the most popular and successful of all of Finland's 20th century presidents, although it was also considerably higher than the 21% her Social Democrats scored in the EU-parliament elections of 2004, or their 25% in the national elections of 2003.

Not that this issue keeps me awake in the nights, but I had a really hard time to decide how to vote in this first election, and it won't be easier in the second. Undoubtly she has done an very good job as a president, but I guess many, like myself, remain reluctant to vote for a Socialist when there are alternatives.

Finland is best served by Tarja Halonen as president, yes that's what I believe. It's good for Finland to have a president that 70-80% of the population hold to do a good job — and why not keep a successful leader?

Halonen has a persona that is very suitable for a President of Finland. She makes a very genuine impression with her air of no-nonsense. She embodies the soul and ideals of the nation. Her poor background, Lutheran work ethics, academic achievements, single-motherness and grumpy treatment of sloppy civil servants all strikes a chord in the Finnish psyche.

But my problem remains: When I compared the programs of the different candidates, candidate Halonen was neither my first, nor the second, not even my third best choice.