Electoral machine | Economy, climate, multiculturalism – This is how questions of values ​​divide the candidates

Is it Is it too easy to live on social security in Finland? Should the environment or the economy come first? Is Finland becoming more multicultural a good thing?

HS's election machine shows the presidential candidates' answers to, among other things, these value questions.

Almost half of Finns said in a survey conducted in the fall, to vote for a candidate who has the same values ​​as yourself. Even more said they would vote based on the candidate's ability to act as a “leader of values” for Finland and Finns.

Questions of value concern issues that the president's powers do not necessarily extend to. However, they may matter to some voters. Some, on the other hand, may think that they are not important in the election of the president.

Early voting starts today, Wednesday.

In this story, we go through three value issues that divide the candidates. You can browse answers to other value questions and factual questions in the election machine.

Question on tax increases and cuts clearly divides the candidates into two camps. Typically, the left prefers to raise taxes and the right to cut.

In the election machine, the argument was made that if you have to choose, it is better to raise taxes than to cut public services and social benefits.

In favor of tax increases, i.e. completely agree with the statement Lee Andersson (left) and somewhat agree Jutta Urpilainen (sd) and candidate of the electorate association Mika Aaltola.

“The president does not interfere in the politics of the day, but I am a spokesperson for the Nordic welfare states. The weaker and minorities are encouraged and defended, that everyone has the right to a decent life”, says Aaltola, who comes from outside party politics, for example.

They disagree, that is, they are completely in favor of the surgeries Harry Harkimo (Liike Nyt) and somewhat Olli Rehn (center), Sari Essayah (kd), Jussi Halla-aho (ps) and Alexander Stubb (cook).

“Responsible politicians must do everything they can to ensure that the necessary services and society's functions can be organized as rationally and cost-effectively as possible,” argues Stubb, for example.

Below you can scroll through the arrows to answer the candidates' answers to this and four other financial-related value questions.

Major some of the candidates consider Finland becoming more multicultural and diverse as a good thing.

Halla-aho stands out from the crowd, who completely disagrees with the statement.

“The problems caused by current immigration are so great that the good sides do not weigh enough in the second scale,” he reasons.

Mika Aaltola did not take a position on the question at all and did not write anything in the open answer.

The rest of the candidates consider multiculturalism to be a good thing, Li Andersson completely and the others somewhat.

Candidates climate positions are placed on the line almost identically to the issue of multiculturalism.

Most of the candidates somewhat or completely agree that Finland should reduce its own emissions, regardless of what other countries do.

The only one who completely disagrees is Halla-aho, Haavisto and Andersson completely agree. Others pretty much agree.

However, the line gets a little mixed up when we look at the argument that the interest of the environment should come before economic growth and job creation, if they are in conflict with each other.

Most of the candidates chose the option “neither agree nor disagree”, including the Greens' Pekka Haavisto.

“In areas where nature values ​​and industrial activity are most often in conflict, innovation and product development investments are needed, not confrontation,” Haavisto writes.

Li Andersson completely agreed with putting the environment before the economy, Urpilainen and Essayah somewhat agreed.

“In my opinion, these two issues should not be contrasted in black and white, resource-efficient economic growth and environmental impact assessment enable both economic growth and taking care of the environment. If the state of the environment is destroyed, then you can forget about economic growth and jobs,” Essayah writes.

That too the candidates disagree on whether the interests of Finland and Finns should be put before everything else.

The majority of the candidates fully agree with this.

“You can't do politics only for your own target group, like most of the parties do, but you have to do it for Finland and the Finns”, for example, Harkimo justifies his answer.

Rehn also says, among other things, that “The issue of Finland has been the guiding star of my activities throughout my life.”

Urpilainen stands out a little from the crowd, who somewhat agreed with the statement.

“In a world of interdependencies, goals cannot be achieved alone. A rule-based system, commitment to international cooperation and jointly drawn up agreements is the way to a sustainable future”, he explains, among other things.

Haavisto and Andersson have somewhat different opinions. They also appeal to the fact that there is a need to tackle some issues globally, and that can also be in Finland's interest.

of HS the election machine contains a large amount of information about the positions of the candidates, questions related to
the duties of the president and questions of values.

You can browse the positions of the candidates in the election machine or below, where the answers of all candidates to all questions have been collected.