TARJA HALONEN - FINLAND'S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT

The Social Democrats' Tarja Halonen, 56, has been elected as Finland's first female president. The 18-year long social democratic hold on the presidency continues.

51.6 percent of the electorate voted for foreign minister Halonen while Esko Aho, 45, of the Center Party got 48.4 percent of the votes. For the longest time he was the frontrunner, Halonen being considered as being too much to the left to be president.

"I want to be everybody's president and I am going to do my best to become that," were President Halonen's first words.

"This shows that women as well as men can achieve any political position in our country, but there is still a lot to do before the same equality is achieved within all other areas." Throughout her campaign Halonen has emphasized that she did not want to be a ceremonial figure but a president who cooperates with others and can see the big picture.

As expected Tarja Halonen was strong in the cities and towns. In Helsinki she got 66.3 percent of the votes. Halonen also won the first ballot on January 6 prior to the final two-way race on February 6. Speaker of the House Riitta Uosukainen, representing the Conservatives, managed to get together only 12.8 percent of the votes while the election was a huge disappointment for Elisabeth Rehn, who lost against Martti Ahtisaari six years ago, and this year got only 7.9 percent of the votes.

Finns in general found this election exciting but not specially dramatic. There was general consensus that both candidates would be good presidents. The big issues were Nato and it was only Elisabeth Rehn who came out strongly for a membership while the other three candidates tried to skirt around this sensitive issue.

After the first ballot Halonen seemed to have victory in the bag but Esko Aho's figures rose sharply during the first week in February. Aho got a further boost when Elisabeth Rehn from the Swedish Folk Party threw her support behind him.

The campaign began very negatively for Halonen. Party veterans did not have faith in their candidate and for the longest time she was third in all opinion polls. It was only a few days before the first ballot that Halonen started edging closer to the clear favourite Esko Aho.

Aho and his supporters painted a threatening picture of a Finland in which the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister were from the same party. Finnish media also laments this strange twist in a country that is generally strongly rightist. The social democratic presidents until now have been of a non-partisan kind, while Halonen is a leftist politician with a strong ideological bent. Her victory is also seen as a personal victory for Paavo Lipponen.

Halonen has a fine record as foreign minister for the last six years, and especially during the six months when Finland did a wonderful job as the host country for the EU. She has always championed such causes as the rights for sexual minorities, the refugees and other disadvantaged groups.

Esko Aho has the historical disadvantage of being prime minister between 1991 and 1995 when Finland experienced a deep recession. But he was the one who steered Finland into the EU.
The duel between Halonen and Aho was essentially one between a sensible and secure Mumin mom, radical, intelligent, warm and respected, and a dynamic and sleek Finnish answer to Tony Blair.

Tarja Halonen does not wont' too much about her appearance even though she did manage to clean up her act during the last days of the campaign. She does not like comments about her looks, as this is done only when women are involved. She is straight forward and a no-nonsense kind of person.

Esko Aho in his dark suit and manicured nails is more of a Finnish Ken. He has also had minor plastic surgery done and during the campaign always had his wife Kirsti and especially the three-year old Pekka at his side. This family man with four children became a symbol of something that many Finns long for or dream about. In contrast Halonen has a "partner", Pentti Arajärvi who she does not co-habit with. They each have an apartment on the same floor on Wallingatan in Helsinki.
This - the Berghäll working class area of Helsinki - is where Halonen grew up. She says that it was only when she was a teenager that she dared to cross the long bridge to the finer quarters on the south side of Helsinki. She makes no excuses for having left the church and having been a single mother "like so many other women in Finland". And this has been Halonen's secret - that so many Finns can identify with her.

When all is said and done, with Tarja Halonen as President of Finland we can basically expect more of the same. The role of the president is no longer as important as it was during the time of Kekkonen and what remains as the presidential mandate -foreign affairs - is obviously in good hands.

Scandinavian Press, Issue 2, 2000