Oulu overwhelmingly favored Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party in the first round of presidential elections, awarding the candidate 32.6 percent of the vote. Six years ago, Niinistö received only 25 percent of the total vote in Oulu compared to the 45 percent received by Tarja Halonen--the eventual victor in the election.
This year, the second-place finisher in Oulu was Paavo Väyrynen (Finnish Centre Party) receiving 23.4 percent of the total vote. Support for Pekka Haavisto was higher than that for his party, the Green Party, in the parliamentary elections. Haavisto received 22.8 percent of the vote in Oulu.
True Finns candidate Timo Soini received 7.6 percent of the vote, and Paavo Arhinmäki of the Left Alliance edged out fellow liberal politician Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democratic party. Arhinmäki received 6.7 percent of the vote in Oulu, Lipponen having to be content with 4.3 percent. Arhinmäki´s victory over Lipponen came as no surprise since in the recent parliamentary elections the Left Alliance fared better than the Social Democratic Party.
The Christian Democratic Party´s candidate, Sari Essayah, received 1.8 percent and Eva Biaudet of the Swedish People´s Party of Finland received 0.9 percent of the vote. Voter turnout in Oulu was 72.4%, with 80 922 of the 111 678 eligible voters in the city casting ballots.
Polling stations for voting in the second round will take open on the 25th of January and close on the 31st. The run-off round of elections takes place on Sunday the 5th of February when voters will choose between Sauli Niinistö and Pekka Haavisto.