7 February, 2000
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Comparison to the first round of the Presidential election: Coalition Party voters decisive
Tarja Halonen, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, was successful enough in areas of strong support for the Coalition Party to win the second round of the Presidential election. The Centre Party candidate Esko Aho got only a few percentage points more votes than Halonen in those areas, when the votes cast for the candidates are compared to the first round of the Presidential election.
The data are based on an analysis made by Statistics Finland, where the change in votes cast is compared from the first round of the Presidential election to the second round by means of some variables. The analysis is based on data on voting in almost 2,000 areas.
Both candidates were equally successful in high and average unemployment areas, and in manufacturing and service industry areas. However, in low unemployment areas Aho won by three percentage points against Halonen.
Compared to the first round, Tarja Halonen did very well in urban areas. Esko Aho increased the number of votes cast for him in urban, semi-urban and sparsely populated areas alike.
Esko Aho raised his support in high income areas 3 to 4 percentage points more than Tarja Halonen. In the analysis based on the advance votes only, the situation was the opposite.
Support for Halonen and Ahtisaari different
In the second round of the 1994 Presidential election, Martti Ahtisaari, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, received a relatively large number of votes from unemployment areas, agricultural areas and areas where the number of pensioners was high. Compared to Ahtisaari, Halonen was not successful in those areas. Halonen did better than Ahtisaari in urban areas, areas of strong support for the Coalition Party and high income areas.
Source: Statistics Finland's election result service