Niinistö makes triumphant return to politics
Top ten vote-getters include two newcomers and one returning hero
The biggest individual pot of votes, by a country mile, went to the former National Coalition Party chairman Sauli Niinistö, who served for eight years as Minister of Justice (1995-96) and as Finance Minister (1996-2003) in Paavo Lipponen's two cabinets. Niinistö was also the runner-up to Tarja Halonen in last year's Presidential Election.
After some years abroad working for the European Investment Bank, Niinistö makes a return to Parliament with a huge splash, and is likely to be a certainty for a ministerial portfolio in any centre-right government that is formed, even if he has attempted to deflect pressure away from his party chari Jyrki Katainen by saying he does not seek a senior position.
TOP TEN VOTE-GETTERS
(Ranking/Name/Party/Constituency/Number of votes)
1 Niinistö, Sauli National Coalition Uusimaa 60,498
2 Vanhanen, Matti Centre Party Uusimaa 24,037
3 Soini, Timo True Finns Uusimaa 19,690
4 Tiura, Marja National Coalition Pirkanmaa 17,577
5 Zyskowicz, Ben National Coalition Helsinki 17,554
6 Lehtomäki, Paula Centre Party Oulu 16,406
7 Mieto, Juha Centre Party Vaasa 13,762
8 Hautala, Heidi Green League Uusimaa 12,899
9 Tuomioja, Erkki SDP Helsinki 12,885
10 Guzenina-Richardson, Maria SDP Uusimaa 12,530
Guzenina-Richardson and Mieto are both first-time MPs. Mieto is a former Olympic cross-country skier, and journalist Guzenina-Richardson became well-known to Finns as an MTV compère based in London.
A fair share of other "celebrity" candidates also got into Parliament on the strength of their public recognition, but one faller was four-time Olympic gold medallist Lasse Virén. He was a two-term MP for the National Coalition Party, but failed to keep his seat in spite of the party's strong showing at the polls.
On the other hand, the captain of the Finnish curling team in Torino 2006, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, managed to secure a Centre Party place from the Uusimaa constituency. M-15, as he is called in curling circles, should increase the average IQ of the 200-member assembly: he is said to be able to resolve the Rubik Cube puzzle in 25 seconds.
As always, there were a handful of political heavyweights who came up short when it counted - at the polls. The outgoing Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen (SDP), who was mired in a campaign financing scandal in the week before the election, failed to secure her seat in Uusimaa after 16 years in Parliament.
Another to suffer from the SDP haemorrhaging of votes was the chairman of the party's parliamentary wing Jouni Backman, who was also a minister in the governments of Paavo Lipponen between 1995 and 2003.
One face from the past to make a return was Paavo Väyrynen (Centre), who collected 11,000 votes in sparsely-populated Lapland. Väyrynen, 60, is a former Centre Party chairman and three-time Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1977 and 1993.
Though an outspoken eurosceptic, the contentious figure has been a MEP in Brussels since 1995, and was re-elected there in 2004, but now he says he will return to Finland if offered the position of Speaker of Parliament.
More on this subject:
 National Coalition Party win ringing election endorsement
Number of over-sixties in Finnish Parliament grows
Helsingin Sanomat
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