23-Jan-2012 - Finland votes for president

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(CNN) -- After 12 years at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, the first female president in Finland's history is starting to pack up her things. Social Democrat Tarja Halonen has served the maximum two terms in office, and on Sunday the nation votes for a new president. On Saturday, the last day of campaigning, the candidates defied freezing temperatures and heaps of snow try to to win over the last few voters, CNN's Finnish affiliate MTV3 reported. "I really liked Halonen. That is why it is so difficult to make up my mind. I liked her style, she was good" resident Merja Lindell told Swedish daily Expressen which is reporting on the Finnish election. In this cheap NFL jerseys election, Finland's nearly 4.4 million eligible voters can choose between eight candidates, according to the Finnish Ministry of Justice. The Finnish president is elected in direct elections, and each term is six years. If neither of the candidates gets a majority in the first round, a new election is then held between the two candidates who received the most votes. The Finnish president is in charge of the country's foreign policy, together with the government. The president is also commander-in-chief of Finland's defense forces. But because of recent changes, the president's power is diminishing and more power is being given to the government and parliament. Former President Mauno Koivisto told Finnish public broadcaster YLE that there was a risk of an "imbalance" between the direct public election of the president and the office's diminishing power. Being a part of the eurozone, Finland has also suffered in the uncertainties currently rocking the single currency. In Halonen's last New Year's speech, she said, "The beginning of a new year should give us hope for a better tomorrow. But last year's economic developments in Europe cast a long shadow that we here in Finland must also take into account in making plans for the future," underlining the difficulties the country and the eurozone as a whole are facing. In the April parliamentary elections last year, the eurosceptic True Finns Party achieved a remarkable election win, going from only five seats in parliament to 39 with 19.1% of the votes, thus becoming the country's third most popular party. In their election campaign, the True Finns demanded that Finland stop supporting the eurozone bailouts. Their 49-year-old leader, Timo Soini, is running for the president. But according to the latest Gallup poll conducted by YLE, voters are no longer supporting his anti-euro rhetoric, as Soini only gets about 6% of votes. Soni explained the weak support as an indication that his party wants him to remain as party leader, rather than president, according to YLE. The clear front-runner in the election custom nfl jerseys is National Coalition Party candidate Sauli Niinisto. The country's prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, is also from the National Coalition Party, which with 20.4% got the most votes in the April parliamentary election. At the start of the presidential campaign, the 63-year-old Niinisto appeared set to get a clear majority win in the first election round, but after some declining popularity he now stands at 29% of votes in YLE's poll. In 2006, he narrowly lost in the presidential election against incumbent Halonen. But in this election, described as a race between personalities, Niinisto, who was finance minister when Finland joined the euro, deputy chairman of the European Investment Bank and who is considered by many to be a leading economist, still appears unthreatened. Finland was one of the original countries that joined the euro from the start. The nation's GDP is expected to end with a growth of 2.6% for 2011, according to Finland's finance ministry. But 2012 is only expected to deliver a growth of 0.4%, with the possibility of a new recession, the finance ministry said. And with the membership in the troubled eurozone, Finland has had to take part in the euro bail outs, paying to rescue other members of the single currency who faced deep financial problems. Finland is now one of few remaining AAA-rated countries in the eurozone. Many Finns now see Niinisto, who insists Finland should stay in the eurozone, as someone who can stand up for Finland's interests MLB jerseys in the single currency, even though the president is not the country's main representative in the EU. "He is a real Finnish man. An officer. The only alternative in this election to finally put an end to the Social Democrats' power," says an older man in Helsinki to daily SVD after he just got Niinisto's autograph. Niinisto is likely to face a run-off second election round against the Green League's pro-European Pekka Haavisto who has 12% support according to the poll. Haavisto, 53, is the first-ever openly gay presidential candidate, according to Finnish media. He has international experience from the EU and United Nations, working in Sudan and Darfur and in the Middle East, and he has served as environment and development minister. In third place in the poll is a eurosceptic and long-time politician, the Center Party's Paavo Vayrynen. The 65-year-old Vayrynen has been securing support by arguing for Finland to leave the euro, Finnish media reports. "I am in second place. Those Gallup (poll) people don't know the truth," Vayrynen told YLE. The two women running for president only get about 2% in YLE's poll. But the result is far from certain, as almost one in four is still undetermined in the poll. Voting stations will open at 9 a.m. Sunday (2 a.m. ET) and close at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET). For the first time in 30 years Finns appear set to elect a president who is not from the Social Democrats. But whether it is pro-Europe Niinisto or eurosceptic Vayrynen, or any of the other candidates that replaces Halonen as the country's president, the difficulties of the eurozone are likely to be a top priority on the new president's agenda.

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