The initial results are in, and it looks very much as if Alexander Stubb will be elected the next President of Finland in the second round of voting in two weeks’ time.
I’ve known him since he was a member of the European Parliament, and for complex reasons ended up hosting an official meeting for him and the Turkish Cypriot leadership in my office in December 2008. Back in 2018 I went to Helsinki to help him campaign for the EPP nomination for the Presidency of the European Comission.
Finland’s biggest newspaper ran a story not so much about him but about me being there:

More recently I have taken cooking advice from him:
This evening’s results indicate that he will face off against the Green candidate Pekka Haavisto, who lost the two previous elections in 2018 and 2012. I don’t have any problem with Haavisto, and the really good news is that the extremist candidate finished a poor third, but I’ll be cheering for Alex on 11 February.