Finalists in presidential race resume campaigning

Sauli Niinistö in Oulu, Pekka Haavisto appears on TV show

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Although the weather in Oulu is frosty and cold, the Rotuaari pedestrian street is bulging with people as National Coalition Party presidential candidate Sauli Niinistö steps up to a stage set up in a square in the area.
      “Like Paavo Väyrynen, I want to be a president for all of Finland. All of Finland needs to be kept inhabited”, Niinistö says to loud applause.
     
The candidate is clearly at ease and the atmosphere warms up.
      Niinistö said that he hopes that the people of the north of Finland might support him. Many in the audience voted for Väyrynen, the Centre Party candidate, in Sunday’s first round of the elections.
      The crowd includes a number of Centre Party city councillors.
      “As we noticed on election maps that came out after the first round, all of Northern Finland was actually Paavo’s territory”, Niinistö says.
     
According to Niininstö, Oulu was a good place to come because it was a city in the north of Finland where he got more votes than Väyrynen.
      Niinistö plans to emulate Martti Ahtisaari who promised as a presidential candidate in 1994 to set up a working group to tackle the difficult unemployment problem in the region.
      “Now we need a high-level working group to prevent marginalisation among children and young people. Marginalisation is a massive double loss for both the young people themselves and for society as a whole”, Niinistö says.
     
Youth unemployment is a serious problem in Oulu, and Niinistö’s speech is interrupted by applause several times.
      Niinistö said that families with children need support, pointing out that the birth rate is so low as to be a cause for concern.
      The smell of coffee wafts over the area. Niinistö’s wife Jenni Haukio follows the speech nearby. Pensioner Raimo Holappa praises Niinistö as a good speaker.
     
Green League candidate Pekka Haavisto, meanwhile, is in Helsinki, where he has been followed by journalists all day.
      Now he is sitting in the make-up room of a television studio for the taping of a panel talk show Hyvät ja Huonot Uutiset (“Good News and Bad News”).
      Niinistö turned down the opportunity to take part in the entertainment programme, in which panellists discuss recent news items in a humorous vein.
     
The taping gets off to a good start until the director interrupts it.
      The thin light-blue pinstripes on Haavisto’s jacket cause a shimmer on the television screen and he gets a new one.
      Haavisto’s role in the two hours of merriment is mainly to look on and smile, telling a few anecdotes as the rest of the panel concentrate on somewhat more risqué humour.
      Some jokes are scripted, while others emerge spontaneously.
     
“I am not a big fan of coarse humour”, Haavisto admits to journalists after the recording session.
      “But this is what it is.”
      Then he rushes to a taxi waiting outside to take him to another appointment.
     

More on this subject:
 Second round advance voting begins today

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Remaining presidential candidates resume campaign for runoff election (24.1.2012)
  Late surge in support puts Haavisto in presidential runoff against Niinistö (23.1.2012)

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