2006 Finnish presidential election


A presidential election was held in Finland on 15 and 29 January 2006 which resulted in the re-election of Tarja Halonen as President of Finland for a second six-year term.
The first round of voting in Finnish presidential elections always takes place on the third Sunday of January, in this case 15 January 2006. As no candidate received more than half of the vote, a second round was held on 29 January between the two highest placed candidates from the first round, Tarja Halonen and Sauli Niinistö. Tarja Halonen, the incumbent, won the final round by 3.6 percentage points. The newly elected president formally took office for her second term on 1 March, and would have done so on 1 February, had no run-off been necessary.
Advance voting is possible in Finnish elections, and the dates for this in the first round were the 4th, 5th and 7th to 10 January. Finnish citizens voting abroad could vote from the 4th to the 7th of January. An advantage to advance voting is that those doing so have a wider choice of polling stations, whereas on the actual election day the polling stations are fixed, usually schools, libraries or town halls.

Candidates

The candidates are listed below following their candidate numbers. This list was confirmed by the Electoral District Committee of Helsinki on 15 December 2005.
  2. Bjarne Kallis
  3. Sauli Niinistö
  4. Timo Soini
  5. Heidi Hautala
  6. Henrik Lax
  7. Matti Vanhanen ; the incumbent Prime Minister of Finland,
  8. Arto Lahti
  9. Tarja Halonen ; the current incumbent
The law states that candidate numbers start from number 2. There are various justifications, such as preventing any candidate from using the slogan "number 1" for publicity, preventing ambiguity between the numbers 1 and 7, or preventing votes from being accidentally discounted because of a resemblance to a tickmark.

Themes

The main theme of discussion in the campaign preceding the election was the President's powers and whether they should be limited further. The Green League's candidate Heidi Hautala suggested that the President be completely stripped of all powers relating to foreign affairs and foreign policy, but this proposal met with fierce resistance from the three candidates of the largest parties – Tarja Halonen, Matti Vanhanen and Sauli Niinistö. Halonen, the main left-wing candidate and incumbent president, has further indicated that the president's powers should not be increased either, since it would, in her opinion, reduce the degree of democratic decision-making.
Another important election theme was the threat of international terrorism and how to counter it. The main right-wing candidate, Sauli Niinistö, stated in the last presidential debate that he would consider Finland's membership "in a more European" North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after 2008 to achieve such an end, but this was strongly rejected by the other main candidates. The only candidate openly embracing NATO-membership was the other right-wing candidate, Henrik Lax, of the Swedish People's Party. According to a poll carried out by the Taloustutkimus polling agency in July 2005, most Finnish people believe that NATO membership would increase the risk of international terrorism in Finland instead of decreasing it. This is also the view held by Vanhanen, of the Centre Party, and Halonen.
Other themes included Christian values emphasised by Bjarne Kallis; stronger ties around the Baltic Sea and a stronger European Union by Henrik Lax; criticism of the EU by Timo Soini and the state of entrepreneurship and the returning of Karelia by Arto Lahti.
Sauli Niinistö raised the state of work as another theme. His campaign slogan was "President of the workers" and this provoked many union activists and left-wing supporters and voters. However, he was also criticised for trying to lure left-wing voters to vote for him with this slogan. Niinistö's campaign stated that there was neither "left-wing work" or "right-wing work" but only Finnish work for Finnish welfare.

Opinion polls

Here is a collection of latest poll results. The opinion pollsters' methods may vary, as do the samples and the conducting time, which give the differences.
runoff electionMTV3 16-18/01HS 16–17/01
3 Sauli Niinistö45 %47 %
9 Tarja Halonen55 %53 %

first roundYle 10–11/01 MTV3 weeks 52, 1 and 2 HS 05–07/01 HS 27–29/12 AL 12–29/12 HS 07–17/12 Yle 09/12 HS 05/11 Yle 05/11
2 Bjarne Kallis1 %1 %2 %2 %1,4 %2 %1 %1 %1 %
3 Sauli Niinistö20 %19 %21 %20 %20,3 %20 %18 %24 %19 %
4 Timo Soini4 %3 %3 %2 %1,4 %2 %1 %1 %1 %
5 Heidi Hautala4 %3 %3 %2 %2,3 %2 %2 %3 %1 %
6 Henrik Lax1 %1 %1 %1 %1,0 %1 %1 %1 %1 %
7 Matti Vanhanen18 %17 %18 %18 %16,5 %19 %19 %18 %15 %
8 Arto Lahti1 %< 1%< 1%1 %0,9 %1 %na7na8na9
9 Tarja Halonen52 %55 %51 %54 %56,2 %55 %58 %52 %61 %

The total percentages may exceed 100% due to rounding.
Two of the latest polls made by Taloustutkimus and Suomen Gallup raised discussion over whether Halonen would gain the 50%+ majority of the votes necessary to win the election in a single round. According to Helsingin Sanomat, the reason why Halonen's support has decreased in polls might be an increase in the number of people not wanting to reveal their favourite candidate: some of them plead to the secrecy of voting. The airtime and space given by the media for the candidates may have given the candidates with smaller support the opportunity to bring their opinions to the public, which might add to their support in the polls in question.
On the other hand, the latest poll conducted by Research International showed no change in Halonen's popularity between the three different weeks.
The candidates and their supporters read their polls for their advantage. In Timo Soini's mind there was a big surprise waiting in the ballot boxes; he did, in fact, receive 3.4% of the vote, which was much more than the support for his True Finns party in the last parliamentary election. Tarja Halonen stated this election as being the only one showing such a big support to her: "The crossbar is trembling just right", she said on January 10, meaning the excitement of getting the majority of the votes. Sauli Niinistö publicly stated that there would be a second round between him and Halonen.

Voting

Voting in the Finnish 2006 presidential election took place from 09:00 to 20:00 on both of the two election days, with specifically designated periods for advance voting before both the first and second rounds. Every municipality was required by law to have at least one polling station. Voting was organised abroad for expatriate Finnish citizens at Finnish embassies, consulates and honorary consulates worldwide. The candidates were voted for directly by the electorate. Votes were counted nationally.
The counting of advance votes started at 15:00, and was expected to finish before 20:00, when the first preliminary results were announced. The preliminary counting of the election day votes began at 20:00, after which the votes were delivered to the central election committee in Helsinki, which performed a recount. The definitive result in Finnish presidential elections is required by law to be confirmed on the following Tuesday at 10:00 at the latest. However, enough votes are normally counted during the first hour after polling stations close for an unofficial, but clear, result to be announced.

Results

First round

Result of advance voting
candidatepartyvotes%
Tarja HalonenSocial Democratic Party636,14349.4
Sauli NiinistöNational Coalition Party281,90121.9
Matti VanhanenCentre Party258,03420.0
Timo SoiniTrue Finns33,2752.6
Heidi HautalaGreen League31,4062.4
Bjarne KallisChristian Democrats23,0091.8
Henrik LaxSwedish People's Party17,6541.4
Arto Lahti5,8100.5

;Runoff
A second round run-off was held on 29 January 2006 between Tarja Halonen and Sauli Niinistö.
Opinion polls predicted a close election. A January 19 poll gave Halonen 53% and Niinistö 47% of the vote. By comparison, in October 2005 a clear majority of 70% would have voted for Halonen when asked to choose between her and Niinistö.
Four of the six candidates who did not make it to the second round, Matti Vanhanen, Bjarne Kallis, Henrik Lax and Arto Lahti publicly expressed their support for Sauli Niinistö in the runoff election. This reflects a loose alliance termed porvariyhteistyö in the Finnish media,. According to Niinistö and Vanhanen, the main centre-right parties had agreed about a year earlier on some level of co-operation to better compete with Halonen, who was supported by both the Social Democrats and Left Alliance.
ProvinceTarja HalonenSauli NiinistöMatti VanhanenHeidi HautalaTimo SoiniBjarne KallisHenrik LaxArto LahtiElectorateVotesValid votesInvalid votes
Southern Savonia41,93917,44824,9441,8902,9141,766187343129,07991,81291,431381
Northern Savonia62,27623,96440,1283,1585,4262,251332513197,683138,352138,048304
North Karelia41,81215,60525,2742,2444,5201,682177351132,82591,94291,665277
Kainuu19,6596,38016,0017251,7847068417267,54545,62945,511118
Uusimaa366,169253,63571,82345,38922,34514,28116,9913,6021,025,287796,461794,2352,226
Eastern Uusimaa24,35212,2926,7392,1761,1591,0235,47520869,68853,54353,424119
Southwest Finland130,95373,29636,7419,8018,7543,9904,3721,196355,961269,907269,103804
Tavastia Proper49,18324,50015,8602,3303,0381,758276440131,35997,66497,385279
Päijänne Tavastia55,88429,57017,0262,8194,3702,279347624156,066113,212112,919293
Kymenlaakso53,59225,47217,0552,2694,5791,957450583146,922106,412105,957455
South Karelia36,59317,96017,6621,7342,9921,361206481107,94979,23078,989241
Central Finland75,32827,23934,8304,7406,0883,449342552209,443153,025152,568457
Southern Ostrobothnia33,09123,10745,9891,2824,8813,184160317150,707112,339112,011328
Ostrobothnia47,28815,46612,1922,5081,9466,29415,133227132,754101,359101,054305
Satakunta71,63328,33926,7932,5125,1472,184357897185,999138,255137,862393
Pirkanmaa134,06772,35237,06310,79510,8195,5931,0021,237364,658273,777272,928849
Central Ostrobothnia 13,3225,36614,9046081,5293,6548709253,66040,43040,34585
Northern Ostrobothnia 82,34236,59567,2305,6327,4332,806386741280,672203,656203,165491
Lapland49,52416,29333,2822,1393,7501,113153393145,532106,957106,647310
Åland Islands8,023987454497181521,4032019,60311,64411,55490

Second round

Overall summary:
By province
ProvinceTarja HalonenSauli NiinistöElectorateVotesValid votesInvalid votes
Southern Savonia47,65147,329129,07995,49694,980516
Northern Savonia73,38570,060197,683144,124143,445679
North Karelia49,88745,744132,82596,11795,631486
Kainuu23,88123,12667,54547,24247,007235
Uusimaa429,938401,4661,025,287834,807831,4043,403
Eastern Uusimaa28,34827,20569,68855,76455,553211
Southwest Finland149,753130,990355,961282,047280,7431,304
Tavastia Proper55,57746,649131,359102,734102,226508
Päijänne Tavastia63,59556,272156,066120,343119,867476
Kymenlaakso60,88050,666146,922112,085111,546539
South Karelia41,43341,057107,94982,87082,490380
Central Finland88,66870,495209,443159,952159,163789
Southern Ostrobothnia39,75874,467150,707114,867114,225642
Ostrobothnia55,38649,347132,754105,162104,733429
Satakunta80,98563,292185,999144,915144,277638
Pirkanmaa156,183130,229364,658287,706286,4121,294
Central Ostrobothnia16,95223,99053,66041,15840,942216
Northern Ostrobothnia100,860110,871280,672212,613211,731882
Lapland59,52151,045145,532111,195110,566629
Åland Islands8,3394,03319,60312,47012,37298

Campaign pages