![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enkitaFinland is a country that is geographically on the eastern side of Europe but culturally western. Karelia, a region divided between Finland and Russia, has a reputation as a place where the west and the east meet, and this has been the case since at least the Middle Ages. When observing Finnish culture, it is possible to find things more common to eastern cultures as well as western ones.
One stereotype that is often connected to Eastern Europeans, especially Russians, is that they are peoples who naturally crave to have a strong leader. It is this stereotype that people use to explain, for example, Putin's massive popularity. However, this thought is also sometimes connected to the Finns. While Finland has had her own leaders only after her declaration of independence in 1917, some people have observed Finland's line of presidents and seen this inclination for favoring single, strong leaders.
When Finland gained independence, there was a disagreement about whether Finland should become a kingdom or a republic. Due to World War I shenanigans, Finland became a republic led by a president but as a compensation to the kingdom-side of the argument, the president was given a lot of power.
The best example of a "strong leader" President of Finland is Urho Kekkonen. He got elected four times even though that shouldn't have even been possible according to the Finnish law. Kekkonen held office during Cold War and had good relations to the Soviet leaders. He was able to make deals with them and was thus trusted by the Finnish people as Finland tried to balance between the two sides of Cold War. Special changes to laws were made in order to keep him in power, as people thought that no-one would be better at dealing with the Cold War crises.
Note: One presidential term lasts for six years in Finland.
Finns jokingly called Finland "Kekkoslovakia" as Kekkonen seemed almost like a dictator in his massive power over the country. Not that he was a tyrannical leader or anything like that, Finland was still a democratic republic after all. Kekkonen got to his position because he was very popular and trusted and after his death the country kept functioning normally under a new, democratically elected president.
No president since then has been able to gain such a massive popularity, not until now. Finland's current president, Sauli Niinistö, is serving his second and final term as per Finnish law. He has, however, already made Finnish history.
Niinistö became second in the 2006 presidential elections, and won in 2012. During his first term he gained a massive popularity and managed to create an image of himself as a president of the whole nation, even though he was the candidate of the Coalition Party. The right wing liberal Coalition Party has traditionally been opposed by left wing parties such as the Social Democratic Party, but as the 2018 presidential elections arrived and Niinistö stood as a candidate once again, he had massive support even from some of the "enemy" parties. On the 2018 elections Niinistö stood as an independent candidate instead of as a candidate of the Coalition Party which worked to enforce his image as a president of the whole people.
Lennu, Niinistö's super cute dog.
In Finnish presidential elections there are two rounds: The first round includes all of the candidates, and the second includes the two who got the most votes during the first round. There is one exception to this though; if a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes during the first round, s/he becomes the president and no second round is held. And this is exactly what Niinistö managed to do during the 2018 elections, for the first time in Finland's history.
Finnish media's reaction to this was interesting. Everyone was kind of expecting for Niinistö to win, so most parties didn't even try to campaign seriously even when they set up their own candidates. Some individuals in the Finnish media accused this election of being a threat to Finnish democracy. That approval this massive for one candidate could only happen in corrupt dictatorships.
Which is a stance I do not understand. Niinistö has, in the opinion of most Finns, done a good job as the representative of Finland (which is the president's most important task) and people find him to be likeable. It's as if having a competent and well liked president is a bad thing?
But maybe there is some truth to the strong leader thing as well. Nowadays Finnish presidents tend to get elected for the maximum of two terms. People would probably vote them for even more terms if that was legal. Finns seem to have a reluctant attitude towards changes and prefer the stability a single, competent, long ruling leader can bring.
So how is that when compared to the presidential situation of, for example, the United States at the moment? Or the absolute mess that has been the forming of the new Swedish government? Not that we don't have our problems as well. We literally don't have a government at the moment, they just up and resigned a few weeks ago... But hey, Sale is still doing strong! That's the nickname the Finns have given to Niinistö. Kekkonen's surname is also a name that has left itself in Finnish speech and gets constantly brought up even today, it is for example a popular placeholder name.
Now I've written about fandoms and mythology and POLITICS. More diverse than I expected to be honest.
One stereotype that is often connected to Eastern Europeans, especially Russians, is that they are peoples who naturally crave to have a strong leader. It is this stereotype that people use to explain, for example, Putin's massive popularity. However, this thought is also sometimes connected to the Finns. While Finland has had her own leaders only after her declaration of independence in 1917, some people have observed Finland's line of presidents and seen this inclination for favoring single, strong leaders.
When Finland gained independence, there was a disagreement about whether Finland should become a kingdom or a republic. Due to World War I shenanigans, Finland became a republic led by a president but as a compensation to the kingdom-side of the argument, the president was given a lot of power.
The best example of a "strong leader" President of Finland is Urho Kekkonen. He got elected four times even though that shouldn't have even been possible according to the Finnish law. Kekkonen held office during Cold War and had good relations to the Soviet leaders. He was able to make deals with them and was thus trusted by the Finnish people as Finland tried to balance between the two sides of Cold War. Special changes to laws were made in order to keep him in power, as people thought that no-one would be better at dealing with the Cold War crises.
Note: One presidential term lasts for six years in Finland.
Finns jokingly called Finland "Kekkoslovakia" as Kekkonen seemed almost like a dictator in his massive power over the country. Not that he was a tyrannical leader or anything like that, Finland was still a democratic republic after all. Kekkonen got to his position because he was very popular and trusted and after his death the country kept functioning normally under a new, democratically elected president.
No president since then has been able to gain such a massive popularity, not until now. Finland's current president, Sauli Niinistö, is serving his second and final term as per Finnish law. He has, however, already made Finnish history.
Niinistö became second in the 2006 presidential elections, and won in 2012. During his first term he gained a massive popularity and managed to create an image of himself as a president of the whole nation, even though he was the candidate of the Coalition Party. The right wing liberal Coalition Party has traditionally been opposed by left wing parties such as the Social Democratic Party, but as the 2018 presidential elections arrived and Niinistö stood as a candidate once again, he had massive support even from some of the "enemy" parties. On the 2018 elections Niinistö stood as an independent candidate instead of as a candidate of the Coalition Party which worked to enforce his image as a president of the whole people.
Lennu, Niinistö's super cute dog.
In Finnish presidential elections there are two rounds: The first round includes all of the candidates, and the second includes the two who got the most votes during the first round. There is one exception to this though; if a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes during the first round, s/he becomes the president and no second round is held. And this is exactly what Niinistö managed to do during the 2018 elections, for the first time in Finland's history.
Finnish media's reaction to this was interesting. Everyone was kind of expecting for Niinistö to win, so most parties didn't even try to campaign seriously even when they set up their own candidates. Some individuals in the Finnish media accused this election of being a threat to Finnish democracy. That approval this massive for one candidate could only happen in corrupt dictatorships.
Which is a stance I do not understand. Niinistö has, in the opinion of most Finns, done a good job as the representative of Finland (which is the president's most important task) and people find him to be likeable. It's as if having a competent and well liked president is a bad thing?
But maybe there is some truth to the strong leader thing as well. Nowadays Finnish presidents tend to get elected for the maximum of two terms. People would probably vote them for even more terms if that was legal. Finns seem to have a reluctant attitude towards changes and prefer the stability a single, competent, long ruling leader can bring.
So how is that when compared to the presidential situation of, for example, the United States at the moment? Or the absolute mess that has been the forming of the new Swedish government? Not that we don't have our problems as well. We literally don't have a government at the moment, they just up and resigned a few weeks ago... But hey, Sale is still doing strong! That's the nickname the Finns have given to Niinistö. Kekkonen's surname is also a name that has left itself in Finnish speech and gets constantly brought up even today, it is for example a popular placeholder name.
Now I've written about fandoms and mythology and POLITICS. More diverse than I expected to be honest.
