Last year, former Prime Minister Stubb was chosen as the next president of Finland, which joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) last year, and expressed his intention to emphasize cooperation with NATO and other organizations, keeping in mind neighboring Russia, which continues to invade Ukraine.
In last month's election to replace President Niinisto, who had served two terms for 12 years, no candidate received a majority of the valid votes, so a runoff election between the top two candidates was held on the 11th.
According to the Finnish Ministry of Justice, as a result of the vote counting, former Prime Minister Stubu of the center-right ruling party ``National Union'' received 51.6% of the votes, and former Foreign Minister Haavisto of the center-left opposition party ``Green Party'' received 48.4%, giving Stub a close race. won.
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km border with Russia, reversed its long-held policy of military neutrality in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and joined NATO in April last year.
The president is in charge of military and foreign policy, and the elected Stubbe stated in the capital Helsinki, ``The 'post-Cold War' era is over,'' stating that defense spending, which accounts for 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), is the key to national defense policy. , being a member of NATO, and the defense cooperation agreement signed with the United States in December of last year.
Since last summer, Finland has been on high alert, including closing border checkpoints, as Russia is attempting to confuse asylum seekers from other countries.