There were a lot of things to do today, and so I went out late when it was already dark. The decisive second round of the presidential election in Finland was held today, so I walked to the voting place, voted with a well-sharpened pencil, and walked a little bit more.
(The title of this posting is taken from the poem Editing the Moon by Caroline Caddy.)
We have presidential elections today in Finland. To fit the theme of the day, the title of the posting is a quote from a poem by Ana Bozicevic, "God Is President, She’s the Rose of the World". I'm referring of course to Tarja Halonen, who has been the President of the Republic of Finland since the year 2000. Many children, including our three daughters, have never known of any other than a female president.
This time around there are a lot of candidates in the elections, and any of them is a better person than the party they represent, which is probably a good thing. But one of the candidates is clearly better suited to be President than the others, at least I think so...
Here are some winter photographs, night and day. The depth of snow is now 43 cm, good for cross-country skiing, which I engaged in today together with our daughter. Where there were no skiing tracks, we made them.
The election results here in Finland caused a lot of discussion, and various emotions. The PS party made a big win, going from 5 to 39 seats in the parliament. (The literal translation of the party name is "Basic Finns", although it seems that the term "True Finns" is being used for some reason.)
Negative terms such as nationalism, populism, anti-immigration, Euro-sceptic, anti-abortion, anti-green etc. have been linked to the PS party, but it remains to be seem what their politics will be if (when) they get to be part of the government. They won the elections by criticism, but you need more than criticism to govern a nation.
Especially remarkable is the "anti-green" and "anti-European" strategy. Many PS politicians say that one should first take care of Finnish matters and only then look outside. But is this feasible in the world we live in?
A foreign reporter said on a radio program that he doesn't understand why Finnish people are discontent, living is such a beautiful country. Well, I think it is a matter of those-in-power not speaking the same language as the people. The PS party can talk like normal people do.
By the way, the area in Helsinki where the PS party got most support is Jakomäki, and it for sure is a place where there is beautiful nature to be enjoyed, as you can see here. But if you are unemployed, have health problems, and no politician cares about what you think, then even the beauty of nature doesn't help any.
The photographs are not quite so beautiful - but they spoke to me today.
Well, the parliament elections are in the counting of votes phase, and the "Basic Finns" party (PS, Perussuomalaiset) made a historical win, gaining well over 30 seats in the 200 seat parliament.
I went voting quite early today, and there was a queue, giving a hint about the popularity of voting today.
The election may also have European implications, as the PS party have been critical about EU, especially the financial guarantees given to the European countries having problems, such as Portugal right now. It will be interesting to see how the next government will be put together, though.
Here are some photographs taken late today. I went for a relaxing walk just before the first vote count results were announced.
Spring is advancing, so here is a colorful set of photographs. I have mentioned Finnish Easter traditions in 2009 and in 2010, and now is that time again.
Short summary: Children are dressed as easter witches. Then they go from house to house and get candy. With our three daughters the preparation for this is quite a big thing.
Years are diffent. This year the snow lasted a long time, but today on Palm Sunday we are having +15 °C, a great day for spending time outside.
Today was also parliamentary election day in Finland. I expect the voting rate will be quite high, not only because of the nice weather but also because the heated discussions happening during campaigns.
Oh - and the first spring flowers are emerging. Now it feels like spring.
Today was not only a foggy day, it was also raining. An excession of water on streets, paths and gardens.
We have national elections coming up, and the campaign posters are up by the streets. Plenty of eager people striving for a position in the parliament. At lunch at work we discussed that there might be candidates who might get zero votes (not they themselves or their mother will vote for them...). But the principle of being a candidate is what matters.
And then there are those whose campaign budgets are big indeed...
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