Finnish presidential election, 2012

The first round of the presidential election in Finland in 2012 was held on 22 January 2012. Since the first ballot no candidate could reach the absolute majority, a runoff between the top two candidates was held on February 5, 2012. These were Sauli Niinistö (37% in the first round ) and Pekka Haavisto ( 18.8 %). Niinistö won the runoff election with a clear lead. The President-elect is expected to hold the office until 2018.

The previous President Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP ) could not be standing for election after two terms.

Candidates

Eight candidates competed for election. All parties were represented in the Finnish Parliament put it on its own candidate, including the Left Alliance, which had recently supported the candidacies Tarja Halonen.

The candidates are assigned numbers in the choice itself of importance. In the voting booth, the number of the candidate will be entered in a circle. The number 1 is reserved for the previous office holders. Since Tarja Halonen in 2012 but was not allowed to compete, the numbering started at the 2nd

Pekka Haavisto 2 Green collar Member of Parliament, former Minister of the Environment

Timo Soini 3 Perussuomalaiset Member of parliament, party leader

4 Paavo Väyrynen, Centre of Finland former Deputy Prime Minister, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Development Minister

5 Paavo Lipponen Social Democratic Party of Finland Former Prime Minister, former Speaker of the Parliament

6 Sauli Niinistö National Coalition Party Former Minister of Finance, former Speaker of the Parliament

7 Sari Essayah Finnish Christian Democrats Member of the European Parliament

8 Eva Biaudet Swedish People's Party Ombudsman for Minorities, former Health and Social Affairs

9 Paavo Arhinmäki left Alliance Sports and culture minister, party leader

Result of the first ballot

In the first round of voting on 22 January, no candidate won an absolute majority, which is why a second ballot had to be done. This took place on February 5, 2012.

Result of runoff

In the runoff election on 5 February 2012, Sauli Niinistö won against Pekka Haavisto. The conservative Niinistö reached 62.6 % of the vote while Pekka Haavisto on 37.4 % accounted for. The turnout was 68.8 per cent lower than expected.