Alex Stubb to become Finland’s next president

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Former Finnish prime minister Alex Stubb will become the Nordic country’s next president after elections billed as the most consequential in decades following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Stubb beat Pekka Haavisto, foreign minister until June, by 52 per cent to 48 per cent on Sunday evening, according to a preliminary tally with nearly all votes counted in the elections.

“This is the greatest honour of my life,” said Stubb, as he declared victory. “We are facing a new era in foreign policy where rules are being challenged, and there is a war next door.”

Stubb becomes president at a time when neighbour Russia has stepped up its rhetoric against Finland and said it would build up its forces close to the border as a result of Helsinki joining Nato last year.

“It is the next president that will leave their mark on Nato policy and how it is done between the president and government. Finland will also have to reconstruct its relationship with Russia — it is not dissimilar to the task that Finnish presidents had right after world war two,” said Charly Salonius-Pasternak, leading researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

Stubb, also a former Finnish foreign, finance and trade minister, is an EU and foreign policy expert who has in recent years headed the school of transnational governance at the European University Institute.

He told the Financial Times last month that the Finnish president had a triple role: to act as commander-in-chief of its armed forces; to take the lead on foreign and security policy, including Nato; and to be a guardian of the Nordic country’s values.

Asked about other countries warning of Russia potentially testing Nato in the coming years, Stubb said in the interview: “Finland is in one of the safest positions that it has been throughout its history.”

Finland is able to call…