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Roundup: Record high support for Finnish president to get re-elected in 2017, poll

Xinhua, December 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

A record high of 52 percent Finnish respondents said they would back the incumbent Finnish President Sauli Niinisto if he is to take part in the country's next presidential election in early 2017, according to a poll on Sunday.

The figure showed Niinisto has gained more support in the past year as he garnered the support from 45 percent of the respondents in a poll conducted in late 2015.

The latest survey, commissioned by national broadcaster Yle and carried out by Taloustutkimus, a leading Finnish opinion and customer research institute, has been regularly organized in Finland.

In the latest poll, conducted in November and the result of which was released on Sunday, 1,970 respondents were asked to name their favorite candidates to be the president. The interviewees were supposed to choose among 46 public figures.

Finnish presidential election is scheduled to be held in early 2018. Niinisto has said he would announce whether to run for the presidency in early 2017.

Pekka Haavisto, a prominent Green Party member of parliament and runner-up in the 2012 Finnish presidential election, got nine percent support in the poll.

So far, Center Party politician and former prime minister Matti Vanhanen is the only nominated presidential candidate. Vanhanen said the election will give an opportunity to debate foreign and security policy.

Analysts believed that popularity of incumbent presidents will usually melt down during re-election campaigns.

Jari Pajunen, research director at Taloustutkimus, reminded that the situation was similar to 2006 when the then president Tarja Halonen ran for re-election. She had majority in the polls ahead of the election, but she failed to win enough votes to secure a victory in the first round. In the second round her winning margin over Sauli Niinisto was small.

Yle news commentator Pekka Kinnunen said the current polarization among voters for or against the Finnish government led by Prime Minister Juha Sipila would improve the chances of a left and green candidate. Polls have given the Social Democratic Party, the Left Alliance and the Green Party a 40 percent support in total.

Ville Niinisto, chairman of the Green Party, told Yle on Sunday the emergence of Haavisto in the poll as the main challenger indicated that issues of social principles and values will be important in the election.

In the previous election in 2012, liberals largely backed Haavisto while Niinisto got the support of conservatives across the political spectrum.

The power of the Finnish president was drastically curtailed in several constitutional reforms starting in early 1990s. The president has important say only in foreign policy, albeit to be carried out jointly with the government.

Since 1994, Finnish presidents have been elected in a two-round vote. If no candidate gets the majority in the first round, the two candidates who won the most votes will compete in the second round. Endit