Openly gay candidate for president, Finland

F_Man

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Hello from Finland where this Sunday there will be the first round of the presidential elections. The winner (30% of votes) will be Mr. Sauli Niinistö, a charismatic man in his early 60's. But the 2nd place-bet is telling of the world changing. About 15 % of the votes, and thus a kick to the final 2nd round, seems to be going to Mr Pekka Haavisto, a charming man of incredible wit and true diplomatic skills. He's in his early 50's, and lives in a registered partnership with Antonio Flores (30+, originally from Equador).

Here's a link to them, arriving at a televised grand ball:
http://media.a-lehdet.fi/linnanjuhlat/paattajat/album/slides/071206_l6_1217.jpg

Cheers, FinnMan
 

rbkwp

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cruztbone

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God bless you , finn man. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. God bless finland too, for understanding the quote from martin luther king jr. About judging people on the content of a persons character, rather than their outward appearance ( or their sexual oreintation).
I hope you will visit california someday. We are trying to replicate what you are doing in finland. But we dont have any finnish restaurants that i know of.
But i must tell you, as far and finnish food is concerned , i love cod but i cant stand lutefisk. Do you enjoy eating it?:frown1:
Keep posting.:biggrin1:
 

F_Man

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Hi there, thanks for your comment. Lutefisk is about as appreciated on the Finnish diet as a gay presidential candidate would be in the US elections. It's a more Norwegian speciality :smile::smile: We Finns love fresh fish on the dinner plates :smile:


God bless you , finn man. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. God bless finland too, for understanding the quote from martin luther king jr. About judging people on the content of a persons character, rather than their outward appearance ( or their sexual oreintation).
I hope you will visit california someday. We are trying to replicate what you are doing in finland. But we dont have any finnish restaurants that i know of.
But i must tell you, as far and finnish food is concerned , i love cod but i cant stand lutefisk. Do you enjoy eating it?:frown1:
Keep posting.:biggrin1:
 
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cruztbone

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I did not know that, finn man. We in ca also love our fresh fish.
And yes, too much of a good thing can be nice.
We will be watching for the results of the first round of elections on sunday.
Who did you vote for, and why?
Best wishes, cruztbone in california
 

gymfresh

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But the 2nd place-bet is telling of the world changing.

Mr Pekka Haavisto, a charming man of incredible wit and true diplomatic skills. He's in his early 50's, and lives in a registered partnership with Antonio Flores (30+, originally from Equador).

Has Finland been traditionally conservative enough that a gay candidate for high office represents a big shift? Several very large cities have had openly gay mayors, including Berlin, Paris and Houston. It seems to be becoming less and less of an issue.

It's interesting that the Finnish exonym for Ecuador is spelled Equador. I knew about Lontoo for London and Pariisi for Paris, as well as several others.

Here's a link to them, arriving at a televised grand ball

Both very handsome.

I'm looking forward to my first trip to Helsinki in September. Perhaps Finland will have its first gay president by then!
 

F_Man

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RE: gymfresh
My personal misspelling (Ecuador) done in haste:)

A president is president of a nation. Moods in big cities differ from what you get when you go nationwide. The Helsinki metropolitan area today gave the most votes to the gay candidate, pretty nice!

The result is VERY special when you think about the possibilities of a gay candidate in the USA. This site (lpsg) likes to campare, no? :smile:

Mr. Haavisto got 19% of the Finnish vote, and goes to a very serious second round.
 

F_Man

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Mr. Haavisto's campaign donations have skyrocketed in the last few days and exceed those of his rival by a wide margin! The election is coming too soon for Haavisto to win, though... but it's a thrilling race:)
 

F_Man

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Here's the deal, the final votes are out. The gay candidate got over 37% of the national vote, the not so gay candidate 63%. When you look at the given votes of this small nation, the winner got about 1,7 million votes, the 2nd, Mr. Haavisto, about 1,1 million. That's pretty stunning, that people can vote beyond party politics and private (sexual) preferences. Very optimistic :smile::smile: