Tarja Halonen Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (born December 24, 1943) is a Finnish lawyer and politician. She has been the President of Finland since 2000.Halonen is a trade union lawyer by training. She graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1968 and has a Master of Laws degree. She married her long time common-law partner, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, after she was elected president.
Halonen had also served as the chairman of SETA (Seksuaalinen Tasavertaisuus ry Sexual Equality), the main gay and lesbian rights organisation in Finland, during the years 1980-1981.
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2 Biography 3 The way to presidency 4 Colourful president 5 External links |
Tarja Halonen was born on 24.12.1943 in Helsinki in the district of Kallio, which has traditionally been a working-class quarter. She obtained a Master of Laws from the University of Helsinki in 1968. She served as the social secretary and organisation secretary of the National Union of Students in Finland in 1969-1970 and partly thanks to this she obtained a postion as the lawyer of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions for the years 1970-1974. She joined the Social Democratic Party in 1971.
In 1974 Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa took her as a parliament secretary and she became acquainted with the inner circles of the political world. After this there were enough positions of trust for Halonen, first she was chosen in 1975 to the representatives of Osuusliike Elanto, a position she retained until her election as President. At the same time she acted in the Helsinki city council, however, she left this post in 1996. These two choices followed the Social Democrats in 1979 from the lists, in the parliament the choice for the Member of Parliament and he indeed stayed until at last she was elected as the President of the Republic of Finland. After this Halonen proceeded in Osuusliike Elanto and she was chosen as the member of its administrative council until, she, your difference from its task, during the year 1996. In the parliament her first actual position of trust was working a place as a chairman of the social committee of the parliament in 1984-1987 (?). From this place Halonen rose in 1987 other Sosiaaliministeri and Terveysministeri which was followed by the choice for Yhteistyöministeri to term 1989-1991 of the Nordic countries, ?the same year (1989) Halonen also was chosen as the chairman of the government of the international solidarity foundation, Halonen also left this task when she was elected president. With these actions he managed the office of Oikeusministeri also as overlap in 1990 1991. The first actual important office in the government to Halonen was a choice for minister of foreign affairs in 1995 for the second term and she also continued this task until she was elected president.
When president Martti Ahtisaari informed that he would not run for a second term in office in 2000, the Social Democrats began to look for a new candidate. SDP concluded that the woman candidate would be the best method to win the election. In the previous elections Elisabeth Rehn came very close to winning. Halonen, who then was the minister of foreign affairs was significantly more popular than Paavo Lipponen, the party chairperson.
At first Halonen was, however, only on the fourth place in the polls. This was partly due to the fact that Halonen spent much time abroad as a Minister for Foreign Affairs. This, however, also meant that she got a lot of visibility in the media. Backed by enthusiastic and experienced campaign organisation her popularity grew steadily. Her succesfull handling of the Finnish presidency of the European Union in the autumn of 1999 was also fresh in people's memory.
In the first round of the elections Halonen got the most votes, but failed to gain 50% of the votes needed to win directly. In the second round she narrowly defeated her opponent, the former prime minister Esko Aho of the Centre Party, becoming Finland's first female president.
The new constitution adopted just before Halonen became president restricted her authority. But it soon became clear that she would still take an active role in governing the country. This was evident in e.g. the nomination of her own candidate to the board of directors of the Bank of Finland instead of politically chosen candidate.
Halonen married her long-time common-law spouse Pentti Arajärvi in August 2000. While in Finland her relationship was not an issue, the marriage clarified the position of Dr. Arajärvi abroad.
Despite her narrow election victory Halonen became one of the most popular presidents Finland has ever had. She is widely regarded as easily approarchable and down-to-earth person. Halonen has often been compared to "Moominmamma", a mother-figure from a cartoon created by Tove Jansson.Highlights of political career
Biography
The way to presidency
Colourful president