Stubb gets 28.3 percent of the votes, followed by Pekka Haavisto who gets 25.8 percent.
Thus, it looks like there will be a second round of elections on February 11.
A first election forecast for all votes is expected around 20.15, Swedish time.
Focus on national security
National security is in focus when Finland now chooses a successor to Sauli Niinistö.
The presidency is more burning than in a very long time as the relatively new NATO country restructures its foreign and security policy.
It is the president who sits at the negotiating table during the defense alliance summits. The President is also Finland's Commander-in-Chief. An important selection criterion is therefore foreign policy experience.
Three in the forefront
Three out of nine candidates stand out in opinion polls ahead of the election. These are the veteran politicians Alexander Stubb, who stands for the bourgeois Samlingspartiet, and Pekka Haavisto, who is not running for his party De Gröna, but for a so-called electoral association.
During the last week, the former chairman of the True Finns, Jussi Halla-aho, has also sailed up in the opinion polls and is now fighting for a place in the second round. He is the Speaker of the Riksdag and a former member of the European Parliament.
The candidates
Stubb has a solid background in foreign policy. He has also been a member of the European Parliament and between the years 2008 and 2016 he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Pekka Haavisto has a background as a minister in several governments, most recently as foreign minister in Sanna Marin's (SDP) government 2019-2023. He also has extensive experience of international assignments in crisis areas.
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This is the most important thing for the next president. SVT captured Finnish voters outside the polling station: "Value foreign policy experience." Photo: David Westling