Turnout: 69.90%
About this election
Finland held its presidential election on 28 January 2018. The incumbent, Sauli Niinistö — running not as the candidate of his former National Coalition Party but as an independent backed by a citizens' association — 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 was a distant second on 12.40%, and the Finns Party's Laura Huhtasaari took 6.93%. Because Niinistö exceeded 50%, no run-off was held. Turnout was about 66.8%.
Niinistö's commanding popularity reflected broad approval of his handling of relations with Russia and his steady stewardship during a tense period in the Baltic Sea region. By choosing to run as an independent — gathering well over 100,000 citizens' signatures to qualify — he positioned himself above party politics, and his support cut across the usual partisan lines.
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 run-off 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.
The other seven candidates spanned the full breadth of Finnish politics, from the Centre Party's Matti Vanhanen and the Finns Party's Laura Huhtasaari to the Left Alliance's Merja Kyllönen and the Greens' Pekka Haavisto. None, however, could come close to the incumbent, whose cross-party appeal left the rest of the field competing for a distant second place.
Niinistö's victory was geographically overwhelming: he led in every municipality and won an outright majority in nearly all of them, which is why a second round proved unnecessary — a first in Finland's era of direct presidential elections. The scale of the win underlined the consensual, non-partisan character the office had assumed under his tenure.
Niinistö had first been elected in 2012, defeating Pekka Haavisto in a second round; that contest was notable for Haavisto becoming the first openly gay candidate to reach a Finnish presidential run-off. His re-election in 2018 confirmed the continuity of Finnish foreign policy at a time of heightened regional tension.
Much of Niinistö's appeal rested on his handling of relations with Russia. He cultivated a pragmatic channel of dialogue with Moscow while firmly anchoring Finland in the European Union and deepening defence cooperation with the West and Sweden — a balancing act often summed up as the "Niinistö line". At a time of growing tension in the Baltic Sea region, voters across the spectrum credited him with safeguarding Finnish security.
By standing as an independent rather than as the National Coalition's candidate, Niinistö deliberately framed the presidency as a unifying, non-partisan office. The choice paid off: his support extended well beyond his former party's base, and the other parties' candidates were left contesting a distant second place.
Turnout was about 66.8%, somewhat below the level of Finnish parliamentary elections — a common pattern when the outcome is widely seen as a foregone conclusion. The result reinforced the consensual, above-politics character the presidency had taken on, focused on foreign and security policy rather than domestic partisanship.
Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus) and the Ministry of Justice election results service — stat.fi.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.