Turnout: 69.90%
About this election
Finland held its presidential election on 28 January 2018. Incumbent president Sauli Niinistö, running as an independent (with citizens' association backing rather than as the candidate of his former party, the National Coalition), won outright in the first round with 62.64% of the vote — the first first-round victory under Finland's direct-election system. Pekka Haavisto of the Green League finished a distant second on 12.40%. Because Niinistö exceeded 50%, no second round was held. Turnout was about 69.9% of resident citizens.
The president of Finland is elected directly by a two-round system: if no candidate wins more than half of the votes in the first round, a runoff between the top two is held two weeks later. The president serves a six-year term and may be re-elected once. Since constitutional reforms in 2000 and 2012, the presidency is primarily responsible for foreign and security policy, exercised in cooperation with the government.
Niinistö's commanding popularity reflected broad approval of his handling of relations with Russia and his stewardship during a tense period in the Baltic Sea region. The other seven candidates represented the full spread of Finnish parties, from the Centre Party's Matti Vanhanen to the Finns Party's Laura Huhtasaari and the Left Alliance's Merja Kyllönen.
Niinistö had first been elected in 2012, defeating Haavisto in a second round; that contest was notable for Haavisto becoming the first openly gay candidate to reach a Finnish presidential runoff.
Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus) and the Ministry of Justice election results service — stat.fi.