Stubb elected 13th President of Finland

Ruling Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) candidate Alexander Stubb has been elected the 13^th President of Finland.

The former Prime Minister, Stubb narrowly beat Vihreä Liitto (Green Party) leader Pekka Haavisto, who contested as an electoral association candidate in the second round of the ballot held on Sunday from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm across the country.

Stubb bagged 1575211 (51.6%) votes while Haavisto secured 1476548 (48.4%) votes, according to the poll results announced by the Ministry of Justice late Sunday night.

A total of 3071845 voters out of total 4546041 cast votes in the election in home and abroad and the turnout was 67.6 %.

In Finland a total of 3028012 people cast votes, which is 70.7 percent of the total voters in the country.

Out of the votes, 1986831 were cast in advance while 1041181 on the election day.

The authority, however, rejected 20570 votes which is 0.7% of the total votes cast.

"I can promise that I will do my best every single day for this task," Stubb said after being confirmed Finland's next president, reported Xinhua, quoting local media.

Commenting to the media, Stubb said that Finland is now entering a new era. "I would like to continue along the lines of Niinisto, but it is understandable that a new era is starting, " he said.

Sami Borg, an election analyst for national broadcaster Yle, said the result is the tightest in the era of a direct popular vote.

During the election evening, Haavisto's share kept increasing as the count progressed, but he was not able to catch up with the difference.

Stubb, 55, had worked as a member of the European Parliament, member of the parliament, prime minister, foreign minister, and deputy director general of the European Investment Bank.

He holds a Ph.D. in international politics and speaks Swedish, Finnish, English, French, and German.

The second round election was held as none of the nine candidates bagged more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round ballot held on January 28.

The term of office of the President begins on March 1, 2024.