Finland’s Presidential Race is now a race to the finishing line between two candidates Stubb and Haavisto.
Stubb received 27.2% of the votes and Haavisto received 25.8%, putting them neck and neck at the start of the Second Round with 53% of the votes.
This result was expected, but what was a real shocker was that the 6 male candidates secured some 89.3% of the votes, while the 3 female candidates only received only 10.7% of the total!
Finns are always so keen to show that women have so many of the top jobs, but the reality is clearly different.
But back to the election…
The bell has sounded for the second round.
Last night there was the first debat on TV with Stubb and Haavisto facing one another. It was an interesting event because we saw, at last, a clear difference between the two…
Stubb, the Conservative, wanted to appear presidential and explained the challenges of being a president, while repeating his past achievements. He also spoke several times about problems and challenges that we are supposed to believe that he can solve. It was a fine speech but lacked any real content. He also used phrases from the past like “Commander in Chief”, probably seeing himself adorned with military medals in a smart uniform…
… and he spoke once more about being the people’s president, but we all know that the Conservative Party have their own definition of who are the “people”.
He gave a fine speech, but when politicians like him talk about problems and challenges, they seldom have solutions other than sound bites…
… and we have already heard them all many times before during this election process,
Haavisto, more liberal politician from the Green Party. In his presentations he was far more reserved and spoke less to viewers. He did not react when Stubb cut him off a few times. He remained calm, although his knees did bounce up and down a few times at the start.
When he did speak his voice was softer, more conciliatory. He spoke in concrete terms about his objectives if elected as president. He avoided words like “problems” and “challenges” but concentrated on how he would discuss with his colleagues across party lines. He described a few meetings where he has spoken with ordinary people about their needs and other daily matters. He talked about the importance of NATO, and how he had prepared himself for the negotiations to join when he was Foreign Minister.
Comparing the two was easy – one was prepped by the Party’s media specialists, while the other the other spoke from experience without much of a script…
Voting is important in any democracy, and voters get what they wish for! Let’s hope that voters vote wisely for the best candidate, whoever of the two…
