Finland looks set to re-elect its first woman president, a century after it became the first country to let women run for political office, Reuters reported. The main question over Sunday's presidential election first round is whether incumbent Tarja Halonen will win a simple majority and second six-year term outright or face a run-off. The 62-year-old, backed by the Social Democrats and other left-leaning groups, holds a strong lead, winning popular support across party lines. She has 52 percent support, according to the latest polls, and while her ratings have fallen in recent weeks she is still 32 percentage points ahead of her nearest rival, Conservative former finance minister Sauli Niinisto. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose Centre Party leads the governing coalition, is two points behind him, according to a survey released on Thursday evening. But nearly a third of voters say they are undecided and how they vote will determine if the Nordic land goes to the polls again for a Jan. 29 second round. Halonen was a single mother when she was elected in 2000, and many who voted for her because they wanted a woman president are likely to do so again, though analysts say gender is less of a factor now. Most of her predecessors were preoccupied by relations with the neighbouring Soviet Union, but the collapse of communism and Finnish membership of the European Union in 1995 meant a changed landscape by the time she took office. Halonen's term has also coincided with a good period for Finland's economy, despite unemployment running above 8 percent. It ranks as one of the most competitive, since transforming over the last decade into a haven for high technology, and is home to the world's biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia. FOLKSY FIGURE Supporters and critics see Halonen as someone who walks with world leaders, but tries to keep the common touch, doing her own shopping and showing motherly instincts -- such as when she straightened U.S. President George W. Bush's tie at a summit. "She's something of a folksy figure," said Kyosti Karvonen, managing editor of independent regional daily Kaleva. "The general idea she wants to give is that she is 'one of us', and judging by the polls, people agree with that." The president's powers were cut by constitutional reforms that took effect at the start of Halonen's term, but she decides foreign policy in consultation with the government and is defence force commander-in-chief. Tuomo Martikainen, a professor of political studies at Helsinki University, said the changes allowed the president to remain above party politics. "She talks of preserving the welfare state and people are very attuned to that kind of talk," Martikainen said. "She is in the public eye almost daily and she remains popular, even though she has not done a lot." Critics say her presidency has been one of lofty ideals -- such as fairer globalisation -- but passive foreign relations. And they say she has not done enough to encourage debate on the problems facing Finland's 5.3 million people, with a rapidly ageing population profile. She shies away from NATO membership, a stance reflecting that of wider society on one of the main topics of debate in Finnish politics since it joined the European Union in 1995. Niinisto, her moderate rightist challenger, is seen to favour joining NATO, but has been reluctant to pitch for more than cooperation with a "more European NATO". The unspoken factor in much of the security debate is Russia, with many Finns still wary of their huge eastern neighbour more than six decades after the two countries fought a war and despite the collapse of the Soviet Union.
