News

Finland

​President of Finland Alexander Stubb speaks during the lecture on the new world disorder at the Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 3, 2024.
President of Finland Alexander Stubb speaks during the lecture on the new world disorder at the Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 3, 2024.
(Photo by VESA MOILANEN/LEHTIKUVA/Sipa USA)

Voters in Finland will choose their new president on Sunday. The president controls military and security policy – a significant position since Finland joined NATO last year in response to its neighbor Russia invading Ukraine.

The candidates: The front-runner is center-right candidate Alexander Stubb. Stubb, who is viewed as a pro-European globalist, previously served as prime minister and foreign minister and as a member of the European Parliament. He is running against center-left Pekka Haavisto, a Green League member and former United Nations diplomat, who would be the country’s first openly gay president if elected.

During their campaigns, both candidates veered toward the political middle and were vocal supporters of Ukraine and of closing the border with Russia after Finland observed an influx of migrants entering through its eastern border without visas in 2023.

Where things stand: Stubb narrowly won the first round of voting in January and is leading Haavisto by at least 6 points in the polls. The results are expected to come in shortly after polls close on Sunday.

More For You

Supporters react after media outlets projected Democratic US Senate candidate and Texas State Representative James Talarico's victory in the US midterm elections in Austin, Texas, US, November 3, 2026.
REUTERS/Mike Segar

In the end, the long-predicted “blue wave” turned into a tsunami as the Democrats, harnessing widespread frustrations over high living costs, opposition to the war in Iran, and misgivings about Trump’s deportation policies, swept back to power on Capitol Hill.

Will Fitzpatrick

Almgren, a former risk analyst and amateur soccer and track star who dedicated himself full time to distance running in 2025, had never run a marathon before Sunday.

Polish riot police officers stand in a defensive cordon along Avenue Szucha outside the Constitutional Tribunal building on October 31, 2026, in Warsaw, Poland. Security forces deployed early in the morning to secure the perimeter following overnight political developments regarding the leadership of the court.
Anadolu via Reuters Connect

Poland is engulfed in a constitutional crisis amid a standoff between Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki over the country’s top court.