Here are 5 issues we all know concerning the Nordic country’s new president.
After two rounds of balloting and a specifically tight race, Finland has a brand new president.
Alexander Stubb from the right-wing National Coalition Party (recognized in the neighborhood as Kokoomus) beat left-wing Green flesh presser Pekka Haavisto in Sunday’s poll.
Here are 5 issues we all know concerning the Nordic country’s new president:
1. Alex Stubb is from the liberal wing of his birthday party: he’s pro-Europe, pro-marriage equality and avowedly internationalist. He’s served up to now as birthday party chief, high minister and overseas minister, in addition to having been an MEP in Brussels. He speaks Finnish, Swedish, English, French and German fluently. A willing sportsman – Stubb went to school in America on a golfing scholarship – be expecting to look no scarcity of images of the brand new Finnish president in tight lycra sports clothing competing in iron guy competitions or snowboarding, even if he will have much less time for the ones actions as soon as he’s put in within the presidential palace in Helsinki.
2. Stubb says he desires to be a president who can unify the rustic. That’s no small order when his birthday party Kokoomus runs the coalition govt with the far-right Finns, and when contentious celebrities with homophobic posts, and politicians with convictions for racism-related offences, got here out in give a boost to of him all through the presidential election marketing campaign. One contemporary Finnish learn about discovered 40% of Stubb’s supporters wouldn’t vote for his rival Haavisto as a result of he’s a homosexual guy; whilst any other survey discovered 30% of Finnish electorate mentioned they thought to be a candidate’s sexuality when casting a poll. That’s numerous unifying to be carried out.
3. Alex Stubb hasn’t ever been shy about the usage of social media and is understood for his love of selfies with supporters – particularly the fame sort. “For me social media has always been a spontaneous channel of communication,” Stubb wrote on X, previously Twitter, in October 2021. “I manage my own account. I realise the risks. Have gotten burned many times.” He mentioned it’s higher to make use of social media to be in contact, regardless of the hazards, than now not be in contact in any respect.
4. A 2018 tweet of Stubb together with his “old friend and colleague” Sergei Lavrov has now not elderly neatly, and he’s apologised for announcing individuals who sought after to dam Russian funding in a Finnish nuclear energy plant have been “Russophobes.”
4. Stubb must keep humble. One of the criticisms he’s gained many times previously is that he has an conceited and entitled perspective. That’s been dialled down so much all through this marketing campaign the place he labored onerous to seem measured and collegial together with his fighters however he must stick with it for a minimum of six years in workplace (already at this level many political observers doubt he would run for a 2nd time period).
5. Stubb has large sneakers to fill in succeeding President Sauli Niinistö, who has loved sky-high approval rankings from the Finnish public over the past two phrases – 12 years – in workplace. There’s no doubt Stubb used to be interested in the race through the renewed excessive profile of the Finnish presidency after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s NATO accession talks. A comic story some of the Helsinki press corps is that essentially the most bad position to be in Finland is between Alex Stubb and a tv digital camera – that can be true, however there also are quite a lot of very mundane presidential responsibilities Stubb must fulfil clear of the highlight and he wishes to turn he’s similarly concerned with having afternoon espresso with pensioners, or traveling a manufacturing unit and armed forces garrison as he’s bounding directly to the arena level grinning his signature big-toothed smile to tv cameras.
At a gathering of Nordic overseas ministers in Denmark in 2011 he used to be famously stuck on an open mic announcing the assembly used to be “shit”, whilst the delegation’s deputy chided him announcing “with his body language and words, our minister communicated that Nordic matters do not rate highly on his agenda.” Alex Stubb must take on the boring and uninteresting with as a lot enthusiasm because the global media consideration he enjoys such a lot.
