HELSINKI (AP) — Voters in Finland were electing a new president Sunday at an unprecedented time for the Nordic nation that is now a NATO member with its eastern border with Russia closed — two things almost unthinkable a few years ago.
Some 4.5 million citizens are eligible to vote for Finland’s new head of state from an array of nine candidates — six men and three women.
They are picking a successor to hugely popular President Sauli Niinistö, whose second six-year term expires in March.
Finland’s new head of state will start a six-year term in March in a markedly different geopolitical and security situation in Europe than did incumbent Niinistö after the 2018 election.
Abandoning decades of military non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland became NATO’s 31st member in April, much to the annoyance of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with the Nordic nation.
NATO membership, which has made Finland the Western military alliance’s front-line country toward Russia, and the war raging in Ukraine a mere 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from Finland’s border have boosted the president’s status as a security policy leader.
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