Pekka Haavisto could become Finland's first Green and gay president
January 31, 2024 11:30 AM Subscribe
The 65-year-old former foreign minister is second in the opinion polls “You could see that people could never imagine that gay men could be elected. But this has been changing.”
OK, that stamp set is pretty fucking gay...
I have been playing a video game against a guy in Finland for a couple of years now. Finland seems like a better place than the USA. It's like, "the country where I quite want to be..."
Finland has it all...
posted by Windopaene at 12:07 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
I have been playing a video game against a guy in Finland for a couple of years now. Finland seems like a better place than the USA. It's like, "the country where I quite want to be..."
Finland has it all...
posted by Windopaene at 12:07 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
The article is slightly outdated; the first election round concluded last Sunday, with Stubb and Haavisto making it to the second round. The points about a potential gay president still stand, of course, even though the general expectation seems to be that most of the voters of the trailing first round candidates will likely favor Stubb. I could see this ending in something like a 60/40 or a 55/45 split.
But most importantly, the True Finns candidate came third in the first round, nearly 7 percentage points behind Haavisto's second place finish at 25,8%. It's a relief that a gay member of the middlingly polling Green party took it with such a clear margin over the conservative favorite. The urban/rural divide worked predictably to decide it between the two.
I can live with either of the two remaining guys as president. They'll have massive shoes to fill, though, since the popularity of Sauli Niinistö approaches unlikely, entirely party-line-ignoring numbers. Easily the highest approval rating of any Finnish president leaving office in my lifetime, possibly ever.
posted by jklaiho at 12:09 PM on January 31 [14 favorites]
But most importantly, the True Finns candidate came third in the first round, nearly 7 percentage points behind Haavisto's second place finish at 25,8%. It's a relief that a gay member of the middlingly polling Green party took it with such a clear margin over the conservative favorite. The urban/rural divide worked predictably to decide it between the two.
I can live with either of the two remaining guys as president. They'll have massive shoes to fill, though, since the popularity of Sauli Niinistö approaches unlikely, entirely party-line-ignoring numbers. Easily the highest approval rating of any Finnish president leaving office in my lifetime, possibly ever.
posted by jklaiho at 12:09 PM on January 31 [14 favorites]
I'm going to arrive in Helsinki on the 18th of February. Should I be worried about political unrest?
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:05 PM on January 31
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:05 PM on January 31
grumpybear69: I'm going to arrive in Helsinki on the 18th of February. Should I be worried about political unrest?
Not really. The city might be eerily quiet, but that would be because it's the start of the school winter holiday.
It's been odd, as a foreigner living in Finland, to follow this election campaign. I think both of the final candidates are fine. I prefer Haavisto, but Stubb is the least problematic version of a rich guy conservative.
Haavisto came second in the two previous elections for president, and everyone around me here in Finland expects Stubb to win again. The way I see it, the only way that this dynamic gets shaken up is if Stubb says something really stupid, but he's capable of doing that.
For instance, he resigned as minister of finance back in 2016 because he insisted that he was following the advice of 90% of his policy advisors, when it turned out to be that he was going against the advice given by 90% of his policy advisors.
In the end, he was basically driven out of Finnish politics because he was kind of annoying on Twitter (who among us etc etc). But he was gone for long enough that it seems like most people have forgotten about all that.
posted by Kattullus at 3:15 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
Not really. The city might be eerily quiet, but that would be because it's the start of the school winter holiday.
It's been odd, as a foreigner living in Finland, to follow this election campaign. I think both of the final candidates are fine. I prefer Haavisto, but Stubb is the least problematic version of a rich guy conservative.
Haavisto came second in the two previous elections for president, and everyone around me here in Finland expects Stubb to win again. The way I see it, the only way that this dynamic gets shaken up is if Stubb says something really stupid, but he's capable of doing that.
For instance, he resigned as minister of finance back in 2016 because he insisted that he was following the advice of 90% of his policy advisors, when it turned out to be that he was going against the advice given by 90% of his policy advisors.
In the end, he was basically driven out of Finnish politics because he was kind of annoying on Twitter (who among us etc etc). But he was gone for long enough that it seems like most people have forgotten about all that.
posted by Kattullus at 3:15 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
It was much closer than anyone was anticipating, including Stubb himself. He usually is prepared for questions, but when he was asked about it being close, he stumbled and even had to reach for the English-language term "first past the post" in his answer.
Also, the media was not prepared for this either, and they were having to work things out on the fly, clearly expecting something like a 55-45 split, and didn't have correct datasets prepared to analyze this kind of election.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'd've preferred Haavisto, but Stubb seems like basically an okay guy. He's a conservative, yes, but one who likes art and culture and understands that not everyone has his priorities or experiences in life.
posted by Kattullus at 6:28 AM on February 12
Also, the media was not prepared for this either, and they were having to work things out on the fly, clearly expecting something like a 55-45 split, and didn't have correct datasets prepared to analyze this kind of election.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'd've preferred Haavisto, but Stubb seems like basically an okay guy. He's a conservative, yes, but one who likes art and culture and understands that not everyone has his priorities or experiences in life.
posted by Kattullus at 6:28 AM on February 12
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posted by wicked_sassy at 11:58 AM on January 31 [4 favorites]