| Article ID: | 30797 |
|---|
| Order | 11 th President of Finland |
| Term of office | 1 st March 2000 â |
| Predecessor | Martti Ahtisaari |
| Date of birth | 24 th December 1943 |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Finland |
Halonen graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1968 and has a Master of Laws degree. She married her long time common-law partner, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi , after she was elected president.
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in Helsinki in the district of Kallio , which has traditionally been a working-class quarter. Her parents were Vieno Olavi Halonen and Lyyli Elina Loimola. She obtained a Master of Laws from the University of Helsinki in 1968 . Halonen served as the social secretary and organisation secretary of the National Union of Students in Finland in 1969 â 1970 and partly thanks to this she obtained a position as the lawyer of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) for the years 1970 â 1974 . She joined the Social Democratic Party in 1971 .
In 1974 Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa took Halonen as a parliament secretary and she became acquainted with the inner circles of the political world. After this she served in various positions of trust. She was chosen in 1975 to the representatives of Osuusliike Elanto , a position she retained until her election as President. At the same time she served on Helsinki City Council; she left this post in 1996 . In 1979 she was elected to the Finnish Parliament , of which she was a member until 2000 . In the Parliament her first actual position of trust was working as a Chairman of the Social committee of the parliament from 1984 to 1987 .
From this position Halonen rose to the status of Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Health in 1987 which was followed by her serving as Minister of Nordic Cooperation from 1989 until 1991 , the same year that Halonen was also chosen as the chairman of the government of the international solidarity foundation. Halonen also left this post when she was elected president. From 1990 â 1991 she was the Minister of Justice and from 1995 until her election as President she served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
When President Martti Ahtisaari announced that he would not run for a second term in office in 2000, the Social Democrats began to look for a new candidate. The party concluded that a woman candidate would be the best method to win the election. In the previous elections Elisabeth Rehn came very close to victory. Halonen, who then was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was significantly more popular than Paavo Lipponen , the party chairman.
At first Halonen was, however, only on the fourth place in the polls. This was partly due to the fact that Halonen spent much time abroad as Minister for Foreign Affairs. This, however, also meant that she got a lot of visibility in the media. Backed by an enthusiastic and experienced campaign organisation, her popularity grew steadily. Her successful handling of the Finnish presidency of the European Union in the autumn of 1999 was also fresh in people's memory.
In the first round of the elections, Halonen got the most votes but failed to gain the 50% needed to win directly. In the second round, she narrowly defeated her opponent, the former Prime Minister Esko Aho of the Centre Party , becoming Finland's first female President . Her term began on March 1 , 2000 .
Ms. Halonen announced her candidacy for a second term as President in May 2005. Before the start of actual presidential campaigning, Halonen continued to enjoy high public support in polls.
Despite her narrow election victory, Halonen has become one of the most popular Presidents that Finland has ever had, with approval ratings between 94% and 97%, though the rating has come down a bit during the 2006 presidential campaign. She is widely regarded as an easily approachable and down-to-earth person. Halonen has often been compared to " Moominmamma ", a mother-figure from the comic strips and books created by Tove Jansson . Many people, not least those to the right of the Social Democrats, appreciate that she has made a career from modest circumstances due to her own competence, which has great value for meritocracy -minded Finns. Halonen was nominated as one of the top ten members of the " Suuret Suomalaiset " (greatest Finns) TV special in 2004 , the only living person to be included.
Her lifestyle has caused some consternation, but her independent attitude has also brought her admiration. In the 1960s , she quit the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , to which the majority of Finns belong, to protest against its policy of taxing church members, and its stance against female priests.
Halonen has also been criticized for her taking part in the May 2005 Victory Day celebration in Moscow, and her opposing the use of landmines on Finnish borders. Both acts are generally considered unpatriotic, as Russia (and Soviet Union before it) has traditionally been seen as a threat to Finland's independence.
On May 20th 2005, Tarja Halonen held a press conference in Mäntyniemi where she announced her willingness to run for the second term. This was the desired answer for the SDP delegation that visited her two days earlier. In addition to her own party's support, the chairwoman of the Left Alliance , Suvi-Anne Siimes , gave her support for Halonen's future campaign.
On Novemper 19th SDP's party council meeting was held; praised as "the president of the whole nation", she was unanimously chosen as the presidential candidate. Shortly after the party council of the Left Alliance gave the party's official support to Halonen.
Halonen's support for the second term is strong: according to the gallup made by privately owned research company Taloustutkimus for the national broadcaster YLE in the middle of November 2005 , Tarja Halonen would get 61 % of the votes in the first round, meaning that she has a fair chance of being the first Finnish president to be elected without the second round. Her biggest rivals are the Vice President of the EIB , Sauli Niinistö ( Natonal Coalition Party ), with his 19 % and the Prime Minister of Finland , Matti Vanhanen ( Centre Party , Leader ) with the support of 15 %. 1,452 Finns was interviewed and the margin of error is ± 2.5%.
Other candidates are Heidi Hautala , Member of the Finnish Parliament ( Green League ), Bjarne Kallis , Member of the Finnish Parliament ( Christian Democrats ), Henrik Lax , Member of the European Parliament ( Swedish People's Party ), Member of the Finnish Parliament Timo Soini ( True Finns , Leader) and Arto Lahti , Proffessor in HSE whose candidacy is yet to be verified because he is not a candidade of a parliamental party (see President of Finland - Election for more).
President Halonen's interests include art history, the theatre and swimming. She also enjoys drawing and painting, and she has two cats named Miska and Rontti. She speaks Finnish , Swedish , English , German and French .
On August 26 , 2000 , President Halonen married her longtime partner, Dr Pentti Arajärvi , in a civil ceremony at her official residence, Mäntyniemi , after a relationship of more than fifteen years. Halonen's adult daughter Anna, and Arajarvi's adult son, Esko, acted as witnesses. Both children were from previous relationships. While in Finland her relationship was not an issue, the marriage clarified the position of Dr. Arajärvi abroad.
Tarja Halonen's daughter, Anna Halonen, is studying international politics at the University of Kent in Canterbury , Great Britain .
In 1980 - 1981 Tarja Halonen served as the chairman of SETA (Seksuaalinen Tasavertaisuus RY, Sexual Equality ), the main gay and lesbian rights organisation in Finland. When she became Minister for Justice in 1990 , there were high hopes among SETA members that she would stand up for gay rights, but many were disappointed when Halonen seemingly did nothing to advance their cause.
In 2003 , a widely publicised incident occurred when member of parliament Tony Halme mistakenly referred to Tarja Halonen as a lesbian. In a radio interview, Halme referred to his background of growing up "on the streets", and said : "We have a lesbian as president and me as parliamentarian. Everything seems possible." Although Halme intended to refer to social mobility with his comment, it has been universally interpreted as an insult, both by the media and by Halonen's office, which considered legal action agaist Halme. Halme later apologized for his comments being misunderstood. The text of the apology makes it clear that Halme did not intend to insult Halonen, but both the media and all public commentators simply assumed that calling a heterosexual person a lesbian must be intended as an insult. Halonen did nothing to counteract the idea that being called a lesbian is an insult, despite her background in the sexual equality movement.
According to her authorized biography published in 2005 , Halonen is critical of some unnamed members of the Finnish civil service for being gay or lesbian and not coming out and campaigning for sexual equality. She accused these closeted homosexuals of reaping the benefits of other people's work for sexual equality without contributing themselves.
On October 11 , 2005 , American late night talk show host Conan O'Brien pointed out on his show that he resembles Tarja Halonen after meeting a Finnish man in the audience before the show. Since then he has done many comedy bits about that fact, including one that promoted Halonen for second term. Halonen's appearance in American popular culture received publicity in Finland. About a week and a half after the initial show, Conan showed actual Finnish newspaper articles which commented on the resemblance, one calling them "like two berries." After the initial publicity received by O'Brien's sketch, Tarja Halonen's re-election campaign started advertising on the Finnish broadcast of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.