HS Home 4.3.2003 - Tarja Halonen reaches half-way point of Presidential term

By Arto Astikainen

On Saturday President Tarja Halonen, 59, reached the half-way point of her six-year term in office.

Finland's first woman president has reason to be pleased with the past three years: the nation has accepted hre as President and approves of her performance. Among some groups her approval rating is 100%. If the support figures were to rise much more, it would be downright embarrassing from the point of view of democracy.

Based on three years of experience, Halonen does not seem to have taken on the role of a true national leader. Instead, she has taken on more of a symbolic role as interpreter of the feelings of the people.

In her speeches Halonen expresses concern for both the well-being and social security of people of her own country, as well as for the fate of the poor in the rest of the world. Welfare, globalisation, human rights, equality, and the rule of law are expressions that have been coming repeatedly from the country's top leader during the past three years.

Sufficiently caring

, tough when she needs to be, without trying to grab on to all power, might be ways to explain the secret of Halonen's popularity.

"Warm, uncomplicated, calm, and sufficiently humble for Finnish taste", is how image researcher Erkki Karvonen at the University of Tampere describes the Finnish President.

Karvonen feels that these characteristics are evident when Halonen appears on television. The President looks and feels like the mother of the country - literally.

As a one-time '60s radical

Halonen has shown herself to be surprisingly conventional.

To be fair, one of her first acts as President was to fly to the inauguration of Chile's socialist President, ignoring a church service commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Winter War, but she soon returned to a more traditional Presidential role in programmes and protocol.

She also fully takes care of her duties as Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces just like her predecessor Martti Ahtisaari.

Compared with Halonen, the relatively conservative Mauno Koivisto looks something like an anarchist. He enacted extensive changes to the protocol on state visits, and he instituted a New Year's speech for the Prime Minister. The most talked-about thing that President Halonen has been linked with in recent times has been the slightly "unconventional" portrait of her by painter Rafael Wardi.

Halonen's popularity

also has a constitutional explanation. She has adapted to the new role surprisingly well. The new Finnish Constitution reduced Presidential powers.

She did flex her muscles somewhat in connection with the appointment of one of the directors of the Bank of Finland, and she was unnecessarily rough on Esko Aho, her former competitor in the Presidential race, but after that things have calmed down.

"The new Constitution has worked better than anyone expected when the paragraphs were being written", says Professor Ilkka Saraviita, an expert in constitutional law.

"It might seem like flattery, but it looks to me that Halonen completely fits the mental image that prevailed when the Constitution was reformed", Saraviita adds.

The President has not interfered

with internal politics, with the exception of the appointments of directors to the Bank of Finland, and in a few details concerning the law on lotteries. Leading Finnish foreign policy in cooperation with the government of the day has moved ahead without problems.

On matters of foreign policy, Halonen has been a cautious brake, rather than an engine surging in new directions.

Halonen has taken on the co-chair of the globalisation commission of the International Labour Organisation - a role that fits in well with her personal profile.

However, a couple of things remain to be tested.

Will the President be able to keep her hands off the formation of a new government after next month's elections? What would happen if the government and President were to disagree on a foreign policy issue? The Constitution does not offer any pat answers to the latter question.

"There have been no embarrassing disputes, but if the composition of the new government differs significantly from that of the previous one, that question might be put to the test", Saraviita says.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.2.2003