Niinistö willing to abolish presidential pardon for criminals

Other candidates would use right with moderation

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In addition to leading Finnish foreign policy (in cooperation with the government), the Finnish president has the right to appoint leading civil servants and to grant clemency to convicted criminals.
      Of the eight candidates in the upcoming presidential election, Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party is the only one who said in the Helsingin Sanomat candidate selection engine that the practice is antiquated and should be abolished.
      “The president decides on pardons based on a statement by the Supreme Court. Pardoning prisoners should be shifted over to the court completely”, Niinistö says.
     
Critical views on the presidential pardon were also voiced by Paavo Arhinmäki (Left Alliance), and Eeva Biaudet (Swedish People’s Party), but they do not call for its total abolition.
      The other candidates feel that it is good that the right to pardon prisoners exists, but say that it should be exercised with moderation.
     
The practice dates back centuries; the Swedish king had the right to pardon prisoners. The original idea was to have a procedure that can override rigid court decisions while taking human factors into consideration.
      Clemency has been granted to prisoners who are seriously ill, for instance. However, the most common practice in Finland has been that the President of the Republic routinely pardons those given life sentences after they have served 10 to 15 years behind bars.
     
In practice, presidential pardons are not very frequent. In 2008-2010 an average of 17 out of the 100-160 applications for clemency that come each year are approved.
      The importance of the practice decreased in 2006 when new legislation took effect allowing the Helsinki Court of Appeals to release prisoners with life sentences on parole. Before the changes, a presidential pardon was the only way that a prisoner with a life sentence could be set free.
     
President Tarja Halonen has granted executive clemency to prisoners with life sentences after they had served about 14 years. Her predecessor Martti Ahtisaari freed prisoners who had served about 13 years.
      The president’s right to pardon prisoners has raised controversy from time to time because the president is not required to offer any explanations for the decisions.
     
The president’s right to appoint key civil servants over the possible objections of the government is set to be curtailed. In October Parliament passed a constitutional amendment on the matter.
      The right to appoint state officials has been curtailed since the days of President Urho Kekkonen, who was seen to have stretched his use of power to the outer limits permitted by the law.
      “The President used to have a very powerful arsenal of power. The President was also allowed to use that power quite independently”, Manninen says.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parliament approves cuts in presidential powers (24.10.2011)
  Halonen vehemently opposes government proposals on constitutional reform (14.5.2010)

See also:
  The last President? (8.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat