Halonen, Tarja

▪ 2001

      On March 1, 2000, Tarja Halonen was inaugurated as president of Finland, the first woman to have won that office. The candidate of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SDP), she had defeated on February 6 former prime minister Esko Aho of the Centre Party in the closely contested (51.6–48.4%) second round of Finland's two-stage election process. She had prevailed by a wider margin in the first round of voting, held on January 16, winning 40% of the electorate to 34.4% for Aho. While Halonen's strongest support came from urban and female voters, she made inroads among other constituencies as well, in part by emphasizing her experience as Finland's minister of foreign affairs, a post she had held since 1995.

      Halonen was born on Dec. 24, 1943, in Helsinki. As a student at the University of Helsinki, she served (1969–70) as social affairs secretary and general secretary of the National Union of Finnish Students. After earning a degree in law in 1970, she began her professional career as an attorney with the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions.

      Halonen entered politics in 1974, when she became parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa. She held the job until Sorsa left office in 1975. Halonen later became chair of the Finnish National Organization for Sexual Equality. From 1977 to 1996 she was a member of the Helsinki City Council, and in 1979 she was elected to Parliament as a candidate of the SDP. While retaining her parliamentary seat, Halonen broadened her experience in domestic and international politics by holding a number of Cabinet posts. Before her appointment as foreign affairs minister, she had served as minister of social affairs and health (1987–90), minister for Nordic cooperation (1989–91), and minister of justice (1990–91).

      On the day of Halonen's inauguration as president, a new constitution for Finland went into effect. It reduced the powers of the president and emphasized the position of Parliament as the strongest body in the government. The most notable changes concerned domestic policy; for example, Parliament was given the power to choose the prime minister, a responsibility formerly discharged by the president. The president, however, retained considerable powers in foreign policy, the area of Halonen's greatest strength. The previous constitution had stated that “Finland's relations with foreign states are determined by the president.” The new document specified that “Finland's foreign policy is headed by the president in conjunction with the Council of Ministers.” Halonen was expected to continue Finland's pro-European Union policies, but she had voiced her opposition to the idea of Finnish membership in NATO.

David R. Calhoun

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