Sauli Niinistö

Sauli Niinistö Väinämö [ sɑu̯li ' Väinämö ' ni ː nistœ ] ( born August 24, 1948 in Salo, Finland) is a Finnish politician, banker and lawyer. Niinistö belongs to the conservative National Coalition Party. Since March 1, 2012, he is President of the Republic of Finland.

Life

Sauli Niinistö, a widow since 1995, after his wife had died in a car accident. Niinistö was with his sons in Thailand, as occurred the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and survived with great happiness. In 2009 he married the poet Jenni Haukio.

Policy

From 1995 to 1996, Sauli Niinistö, Minister of Justice and then finance minister in the first government of Paavo Lipponen and continued his work as a finance minister in the second phase Lipponen's government continued until 2003.

Niinistö would not be set up in the 2000 presidential elections as a candidate, although a good chance of him were attributed. It held, among other things, that he was a bachelor, which could not be fit for a president in his opinion.

Niinistö was a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections and was defeated with 48.2 % of the vote against Tarja Halonen.

Finland's parliamentary elections in March 2007, he was able to unite more than 60,000 votes, as many as in the hundred year history of elections in Finland no one before him. In April 2007 he was elected president of the Finnish Parliament. This office he held until the end of the legislature in 2011. He also served as Vice President of the European Investment Bank.

From 2009 to 2012 Niinistö was also President of the Finnish Football Association ( Suomen Palloliitto ).

In the Finnish presidential election in 2012 Niinistö was again the candidate of the National Coalition Party. In the first round he reached in January with 37 percent the most votes, but missed the required absolute majority. On 5 February 2012, he competed in a runoff election against Pekka Haavisto ( Green collar ), who had come to 18.8 percent. Niinistö won the election and took office the President on 1 March 2012.