Niinistö re-elected Finnish president

The incumbent president, Sauli Niinistö has been re-elected the president of the republic for a second consecutive term.

According to the preliminary results of Sunday’s voting, Niinistö received 1,874,334 or 62.7 per cent of the total votes cast.

He is the first-ever president to be elected after the first round of voting.

A total of 3,001,325 of the total 4,246,803 voters exercised their right of franchise in the election. The voter turnout was 69.9 per cent.

The authorities, however, rejected 9,796 votes due to various mistakes. The number of valid votes was 2,991,529.

The Vihreäliitto (Green League) presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto came out second with 370,823 or 12.4 per cent of the total votes cast, followed by the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) candidate Laura Huhtasaari with 207,175 votes (6.9%) and independent candidate Paavo Väyrynen with 185,144 votes (6.2%).

Matti Vanhanen of the ruling Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) secured 122,321 votes (4.1%), Tuula Haatainen of the main opposition Sosialidemokraattinenpuolue (Social Democratic Party) received 97,255 votes (3.3%), the Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) candidate Merja Kyllönen bagged 89,816 votes (3%), and Nils Torvalds of the Ruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party) got 44,661 (1.5%) votes.

The nearest candidate to the winner, Haavisto, acknowledged the defeat and congratulated Sauli Niinistö, “It seems to me that Sauli Niinistö has already won the first round based on the votes cast. I want to congratulate him. It has been strong showing from him.”

Similarly, the centre party candidate Vanhanen conceded defeat and congratulated Niinistö.