Conservative former finance minister Sauli Niinisto wins Finland presidential vote
(5 Feb 2012) 1. Various of crowd gathered at election party in Finlandia Hall for Finnish presidential candidate Sauli Niinisto 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Stubb, Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade: "Oh, it's great. I mean, people are excited, exhilarated in many ways and a lot of laughs, a lot of claps, a lot of glasses flying around." 3. Wide pan of party 4. Mid of Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen posing for photographs 5. Zoom into crowd at party 6. Close-up of man drinking 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Stubb, Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade: "In the second round we had two basically international liberal pro-European candidates, and if you put together all the votes that the pro-European side got it was 65 percent in the first round. And now the choice at the end of the day was between two excellent candidates. I think Finland stands probably somewhere between the globalists and localists in between the two camps in the two elections." 8. Wide of people watching election coverage on big screen 9. Close-up of screen showing election results coverage 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Stubb, Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade: "The president can be a huge help. My thesis is that as soon as you go outside of Europe and the United States you need a little bit of governmental muscle. Now we don't have royalty. We don't have queens, kings, princes or princesses who can do a lot of the trade promotion. But we have a president, and we now have an international president and I of course hope to travel with him and business delegations around the world as much as possible." ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 11. Wide exterior of Finlandia Hall 12. Zoom in to flags outside Finlandia Hall 13. Close-up of Finnish flag STORYLINE: A former finance minister won Finland's presidential election on Sunday and will become the country's first conservative head of state in five decades. Sauli Niinisto won 63 percent of the votes, compared to 37 percent for his rival, Greens candidate Pekka Haavisto, official results showed with 100 percent of ballots counted. The 63-year-old Niinisto will become the first president from the conservative National Coalition Party since 1956, and the first in 30 years from a party other than the centre-left Social Democrats. He will replace Tarja Halonen, one of Finland's most popular heads of state, who has served the maximum two six-year terms. Niinisto's campaign team and hundreds of supporters gathered at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall to celebrate what turned out to be a strong victory for their candidate. Alexander Stubb, Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, said supporters were "excited, exhilarated in many ways" and that there were "a lot of laughs, a lot of claps, a lot of glasses flying around." Finland's president has a largely ceremonial role with fewer powers now than in previous decades, and is not directly involved in daily politics. However, the head of state takes the lead on non-EU matters of foreign policy, is seen as an important shaper of public opinion, and plays a role as a "brand ambassador" of Finland overseas. "The president can be a huge help," said Stubb. "My thesis is that as soon as you go outside of Europe and the United States you need a little bit of governmental muscle." "Now we don't have royalty. We don't have queens, kings, princes or princesses who can do a lot of the trade promotion," he added. "But we have a president, and we now have an international president." Both Niinisto and Haavisto entered Parliament in 1987. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
