Finnish voters opted for reliability and stability by overwhelmingly handing a second term to President Niinisto. His huge victory means Finland will avoid a presidential runoff for the first time in history.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Nukari
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Finnish President Sauli Niinisto clinched an overwhelming victory in the first round of elections on Sunday.
Niinisto, a former finance minister and parliamentary speaker, won 62.7 percent of the votes cast. His closest rival, Pekka Haavisto of the Greens, got 12.4 percent.
None of the other six candidates received more than 7 percent of the vote.
Riding on his massive popularity, Niinisto comfortably avoided the need for a runoff, a first since Finland introduced a two-round presidential election by popular vote in 1994.
"I am very surprised at this kind of support. I must think hard how to be worthy of it," 69-year-old Niinisto told reporters
"I have no intention of making changes just for the sake of making changes. Surely we will follow very closely what is happening outside of Finland, globally, and if needed, then we will surely react," he said.
Pekka Haavisto, who also finished second in 2012, conceded the race long before the vote-count was completed, telling the Finnish national broadcaster that Niinisto "is the republic's new president with this result."
Niinisto has been a fixture in Finnish politics since first winning a parliamentary seat for the conservative National Coalition Party in 1987. He followed it up with stints as justice minister and finance minister, concurrently serving as deputy prime minister, before winning his first six-year term as president in 2012.
In these elections, Niinisto ran as an independent with no association to the NCP that he earlier chaired.
During his first term as president, Niinisto is credited for having deepened ties with the United States and NATO without antagonizing Russia, with whom the Nordic country shares the longest border in the bloc.
Pro-EU President Niinisto was instrumental in maintaining ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Finland backing western economic sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014. He faced flak for inviting Putin to visit shortly after the annexation.
Recent polls predicted Niinisto would get between 58 and 63 percent of the vote and Haavisto of the Greens would garner some 14 percent.
Almost 4.5 million voters were eligible to vote for the president, a largely ceremonial post following changes to the constitution adopted in 1999.
But as head of state, the president is the key foreign policy player, particularly on issues outside the European Union.
ap/aw (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)
10 reasons to visit Finland
A visit to Finland is not only worthwhile during the polar light season. That's one more reason to get to know this northern European country with its many lakes, forests - and moose.
Image: DW/B. Riegert
Northern Lights
Seeing the Aurora Borealis in a clear night sky can be an awe-inspiring experience. In Lapland in northern Finland, the Northern Lights appear on about 200 nights a year. Auroras, seen mainly at high latitudes, are produced when electrically-charged particles in the solar wind meet oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere.
Image: picture-alliance/robertharding/R. Moiola
Helsinki
Of course in 2017, the hundredth anniversary was celebrated in grand style in the capital Helsinki, especially on December 6, Finland's independence day. But a visit to this port city is also worthwhile because of its architecture and many restaurants and bars. Before independence in 1917, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy in the Russian Empire.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Goldmann
Saunas
Saunas are integral to Finland and the Finnish way of life. For centuries, Finns have been sweating, relaxing and discussing issues in these hot bathhouses - and the icy Finnish winters provide the perfect contrast. There are saunas everywhere in Finland. There's even one in the parliament in Helsinki.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Reboredo
Skerry coast
The Finnish coast in the southwest of the country is dotted with tens of thousands of rocky offshore islets, the skerries. The Kvarken Archipelago is part of the skerry coast and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/Y. Pingfan
Design
Finland is world famous for design. Several renowned designers, such as Alvar und Aino Aalto, came from Finland. Design District Helsinki boasts countless shops featuring young creative artists' work, and in the Design Museum you'll find Finnish design classics from vases and tableware to furniture.
Image: picture-alliance/Lehtikuva/M. Tynkkynen
Moose
Some 100,000 moose live in Finland's huge forests, but you'll rarely run across these shy animals in the wild. If you want to see moose it's better to go to one of the parks or zoos in which they live. At Moose Manor near Jämsä in central Finland, you can stroke tame moose.
Image: picture-alliance/Lehtikuva/J. Nukari
National parks
To mark the 100th anniversary of independence, Finland's 40th national park was opened in 2017. Many wild animals including bears, lynx and eagles live in the parks. A rare subspecies of freshwater seal, the Saimaa ringed seal, lives in the national parks around Lake Saimaa.
Image: picture-alliance/Lehtikuva/I. Pekkarinen
Wodka
Finland has a venerable vodka-making tradition. Finnish vodka is usually made from barley, and the distillation process can take months. There are vodka varieties flavored with bilberries, Arctic raspberries or lingonberries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L. S. Gustafsson
Snow
There is certainly no lack of snow in Finland in the winter. If you enjoy skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing or dogsledding, this is the place for you. Many husky breeders in Lapland have specialized in tourism and offer dogsled tours through the wilderness.
Image: picture-alliance/robertharding/L. Grier
Licorice
Almost all Finns love salmiakki, or salty licorice. Traditional salty licorice comes in both hard and soft varieties, but you can also find new types of this typically Finnish specialty - for instance, with chocolate.
