Finns go to the polls today to elect their new president, an office of heightened importance due to tensions with neighboring Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Some 4.3 million voters are asked to choose between the conservative, former prime minister Alexander Stubbwhich prevailed in the first round of the presidential elections with 27.2% of the vote, and Peka Haavisto, a member of the Greens participating as an independent (25.8%). According to a poll conducted on behalf of the state TV network Yle on Thursday, Stubb has 54% of the intention vote and Haavisto 46%.

With more limited powers than the prime minister, the president, who is elected for a six-year term, leads foreign policy in close cooperation with the government and is supreme commander of the armed forces. A role whose importance has increased following geopolitical developments in Europe and the NATO accession of Finland, which shares a 1,340 km border with Russia.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland ended three decades of military neutrality and joined NATO last year, to the chagrin of Russia, which has vowed to respond with “countermeasures.” In August, Finland experienced an influx of visa-free migrants at its eastern border. Helsinki then accused Moscow of orchestrating a migrant crisis on its doorstep and closed its border with Russia in November.

“The fact that we have just joined NATO is of particular importance,” because how it develops in Finland “will largely be the work of the new president,” said Teodora Helimaki, a political science researcher at the University of Helsinki.

Polling stations open at 09.00 (local and Greek time) and close at 20.00.