Centre-right Stubb leads Finland presidential election first round

Centre-right candidate Alexander Stubb of Finland's National Coalition Party led the first round of the country's presidential election on Sunday, with 28.3% support from advance ballots, justice ministry data showed as polls closed. The liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto was second with 25.8% support, followed by the nationalist Finns Party's Jussi Halla-aho at 16.1%, the data showed after 61.3% of votes cast were counted.

A second-round run-off between the top two contenders will be held on Feb. 11, if no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes in Sunday's election. Finland elects a new president to lead the country's foreign and security policy in its new role within NATO after it broke with decades of non-alignment to join the Western defence alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"It's a lot more than I dared to expect, I am very content and grateful," Stubb, a former prime minister, told public broadcaster Yle. Haavisto, who served as foreign minister until last year, said he expected to go through to the second round.

"This is a splendid result from the first round and a very big gap to those behind us, so I believe we will move to the second round with Alexander Stubb," he told Yle. FOREIGN POLICY LEADER

Finland's president leads on foreign and security policy in close cooperation with the government and represents the country at NATO meetings, while also acting as a commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces. All three top candidates are supporters of Ukraine and have called for tough measures against Russia.

During their electoral campaigns, both Stubb and Haavisto steered towards the political middle, while Halla-aho maintained his right-wing conservative profile. For many Finns, nationalist Halla-aho is a divisive figure who attracts both loyal supporters and staunch opponents.

In Helsinki one advance voter, 26-year-old Leena Boksha, said it was particularly important to vote this time because of the war in Ukraine and the difficult situation it created. She said Stubb, seen by Finns as a cosmopolitan pro-European, was the right person to head the country's foreign policy at this time.

"I voted Alexander Stubb because I think he's very good at dealing with other countries and he has a good relationship with people outside Finland," said Boksha, who was out with her baby to accompany a friend to vote on Sunday. Jere Markkinen, a 22-year-old student in mechanical engineering, took a different view.

"I don't think he (Stubb) would be a very good president because he doesn't seem like he wants to represent the people, he wants to represent himself," Markkinen said, adding he had voted for Haavisto in advance. "He is experienced in foreign politics and is known for generally acting smart, unlike some other candidates."

The Nordic country's admission to NATO last year drew threats of "counter measures" from its much larger neighbour. In December, Finland closed its entire border with Russia to passenger traffic in response to a surge in migrants trying to cross. Moscow denied Finnish charges it was sending the migrants there.