Sauli Niinistö: Difference between revisions
Lelapindore (talk | contribs) m →Campaign funds: opinion polls is more common than opinion measures (in American English) |
removing a protection template from a non-protected page (info) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} |
|||
{{Infobox officeholder |
{{Infobox officeholder |
||
|name = Sauli Niinistö |
|name = Sauli Niinistö |
||
Revision as of 02:22, 1 February 2012
Sauli Niinistö | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speaker of Parliament | |
| In office 24 April 2007 – 27 April 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Timo Kalli |
| Succeeded by | Ben Zyskowicz (acting) |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 2 February 1996 – 16 April 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | Paavo Lipponen |
| Preceded by | Iiro Viinanen |
| Succeeded by | Antti Kalliomäki |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Finland | |
| In office 13 April 1995 – 30 August 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Paavo Lipponen |
| Preceded by | Pertti Salolainen |
| Succeeded by | Ville Itälä |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 13 April 1995 – 1 February 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Paavo Lipponen |
| Preceded by | Anneli Jäätteenmäki |
| Succeeded by | Kari Häkämies |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 August 1948 Salo, Finland |
| Political party | National Coalition Party |
| Spouse(s) | Marja-Leena Niinistö (1974–1995) Jenni Haukio (2009–present) |
| Alma mater | University of Turku |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Website | Official website |
Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician of the National Coalition Party.[1] A lawyer by training, he was Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003 and the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2006 presidential election. He served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2007 to 2011 and has been the Honorary President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2002. He is also President of the Football Association of Finland.[2]
Niinistö is the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. With 37.0% of the vote, he won the first round of the election and will face off against Pekka Haavisto of the Green League in the decisive second round, to be held on 5 February.[3]
Career
Born in Salo, Niinistö ran his own law firm in Salo before entering national politics.
Niinistö served on the municipal council of Salo from 1977 to 1992 and was elected a Member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) from the district of Finland Proper in 1987. In 1994 he was chosen to lead the National Coalition Party as the party chairman and subsequently became Justice Minister in Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's first cabinet in 1995.[4]
Switching portfolios, Niinistö became Finance Minister in 1996, a place he held also in Lipponen's second cabinet from 1999–2003. In both cabinets, the right wing Niinistö was deputy to social democrat Lipponen, thus enabling the use of the term rainbow government in reference to Lipponen's two consecutive cabinets. As Finance Minister Niinistö was known for his strict fiscal policy as well as his hobby of roller skating.
Niinistö was urged by his party to stand for president in the elections of 2000, but he refused.
Niinistö announced his gradual retirement from politics in 2001, a course of action he has not completely followed to date. He was succeeded that year by Ville Itälä as party leader. Upon the end of his term as a cabinet minister in 2003, Niinistö went on to become vice-chairman of the Board of Directors at the European Investment Bank.
In March 2005, Niinistö announced his candidacy for the Finnish Presidency. He represented the National Coalition Party, challenging the incumbent President Tarja Halonen. He qualified for the second round runoff (as one of the top two candidates in the first round), held on 29 January 2006, but was defeated by Tarja Halonen.
In 2006 Niinistö announced that he was standing again for the Finnish parliamentary election. He said, however, that he had no plans to take any high-ranking political job like the prime ministership in the future.[5] He received 60,498 personal votes in the 2007 elections,[6] which is a record number of votes for one candidate in a Finnish parliamentary election. It was about 50 % more than the earlier record by the very popular Hertta Kuusinen, also from Turku district. [7]
After the 2007 election Niinistö decided to take the respected position of the Speaker of the Parliament. Niinistö is also Honorary President of the European People's Party (EPP) after successfully negotiating the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU) into the EPP in 2002.
Niinistö was elected as the President of the Football Association of Finland on 8 November 2009,[2] replacing Pekka Hämäläinen.[8]
Personal
Niinistö's first wife Marja-Leena Niinistö died in a car accident in 1995. Niinistö married his second wife Jenni Haukio in January 2009.[9]
While a cabinet minister, Niinistö, a widower, was romantically involved with MP Tanja Karpela, a former beauty queen and later Minister of Culture. Karpela's Centre Party was in opposition and Niinistö was considered the second-most influential man in government. Under close press scrutiny ever since, in 2003 Karpela and Niinistö announced their engagement, which was however called off in 2004.
Niinistö is the uncle of Ville Niinistö, a Green League MP from Turku, leader of the Green League and Minister of the Environment.[10]
In Finland, Niinistö is also remembered as one of the survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. He escaped the ensuing tsunami by climbing up a utility pole with his son Matias in Khao Lak.[11]
Campaign funds
Sauli Niinistö received 50,000 euros for his presidential election campaign in 2006 from Ahti Vilppula via the company Helsingin Mekaanikkotalo. Mekaanikkotalo is owned by Procomex in Luxembourg and further by Kilbrin Investments Limited in the Virgin Islands.[12] In 2009 it was found out that funds were not included in the official finance announcement in 2006.[13]
Total funds for the 2006 president campaign were ca 2,225,000 €. Official funds announcement was in the end of March 2006. In September 2009 Niinistö gave additional data of extra funds from Nova Group (KMS) value of 30.500 €. It was used to the payments to the Lehtiyhtymä newspapers owned by Eero Lehti, a member of parliament (National Coalition Party). Mr. Lehti owns also the gallup compay Taloustutkimus, that yle uses for the opinion polls before elections.[14]
References
- ^ "Ministerikortisto". Valtioneuvosto.
- ^ a b "Sauli Niinistöstä Palloliiton puheenjohtaja". Football Association of Finland.
- ^ "Presidential elections: Niinistö, Haavisto headed for second round". yle.fi. 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
- ^ "Edustajamatrikkeli". Eduskunta.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Candidates elected Whole country
- ^ [2]
- ^ Niinistö neuer Präsident
- ^ "Niinistö yllätti kokoomuslaiset "housut kintuissa"". UusiSuomi.fi.
- ^ Kangasniemi, Sanna (20 February 2009). "Äiti ja isä vihreä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Ja kun vuonna 2000 tuli aika valita puolue, ei setä Sauli Niinistön kokoomus pärjännyt. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Hämäläinen, Antti (20 September 2007). "Niinistö puhuu nyt tsunamista". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Niinistö lähti Matiaksen kanssa juoksemaan pois rannalta ja he pelastautuivat betoniseen sähkötolppaan sadan metrin päässä rannasta. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ^ Matti Ylönen Veroparatiisit, 20 ratkaisua varjotalouteen Like 2008 page 108
- ^ Helsingin Sanomat 17.9.2009 A4
- ^ Sauli Niinistö Vuoden 2006 presidentinvaalin vaalirahoitusilmoitus 30.3.2006, addition 18.9.2009
External links
Media related to Sauli Niinistö at Wikimedia Commons