YLE poll: Haavisto in second place, Niinistö remains front runner

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A new opinion poll suggests that Green League presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto is increasingly likely to go into the runoff in the presidential elections against front-runner, National Coalition Party candidate Sauli Niinistö.
      The poll, commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), gives Niinistö 29 per cent support, followed by Haavisto with 12 per cent.
      The Centre Party’s Paavo Väyrynen gets 10 per cent, followed by the Finns Party’s Timo Soini (6 per cent), the Social Democrats’ Paavo Lipponen (5 per cent), and the Left Alliance’s Paavo Arhinmäki (4 per cent). The Swedish People’s Party’s Eva Biaudet and the Christian Democrats’ Sari Essayah each got two per cent in the poll.
     
In light of recent polls it is increasingly likely that a runoff will be held, as no candidate is close to the required absolute majority in the first round.
      A survey published by Helsingin Sanomat earlier this week gives Niinistö 39 per cent support, while Väyrynen and Haavisto were tied at 17 per cent.
     
The apparent discrepancies between the YLE and HS polls stem from the way the results were calculated. The percentages in the HS Gallup did not include the fairly large number of respondents who did not give a response.
      If the results of the YLE poll had been calculated in the same way as the HS Gallup, Niinistö’s 29 per cent would have risen to 42 per cent, Haavisto’s 12 per cent would have been 18 per cent, and Väyrynen would get 14 per cent instead of 12 per cent.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Poll: Niinistö’s lead narrows; Haavisto and Väyrynen in dead-heat for second place (17.1.2012)
  YLE presidential election poll shows Haavisto rising to second place (9.1.2012)

Helsingin Sanomat