Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen is the first woman to be elected as the President of
Finland. She was inaugurated as President on the 1st of March 2000. Her
predecessor, President Martti Ahtisaari had elected not to run again as a presidential
candidate following his 6-year term in office. In this election, Esko Aho, the Leader of
the Centre Party (in opposition), lost to Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen in the second
round of this exciting presidential election. The voting rate was 80.2 per cent.Ms Tarja Halonen, of the Social Democratic Party, worked for four
years in the early 1970's as a SAK lawyer. She was a helpful and cheerful person with whom
to work, who was dedicated to the core principles of the trade union movement, of fairness
and international solidarity which, and with no exceptions she avidly supported. She left
SAK to work as the Parliamentary Secretary to the then Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa. Tarja
Halonen's long career as a Member of Parliament began in 1979 and has continued ever since
until being elected as the President of Finland.
Tarja Halonen was an union activist at grass roots level
over a long period, serving for many years as the Chair of her own local branch of the
Helsinki Office Workers. At that time the branch had over 1000 members, and this gave her
a good platform as a candidate for Helsinki City Council and later as a parliamentary
candidate, in order to become an MP.
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