The CEO of the corporate financier Fundu took a stand in the ad on behalf of Alexander Stubb, referring to the army's visit. HS asked for the reasons for the exceptional statement.
In companies tend to refrain from strong political positions because they might limit the customer base. However, Fundu, who bought the advertisement on the front page of Helsingin Sanomat on Monday, made an exception to this rule when the end of the presidential election started.
The turnover of Fundu, which offers business financing, was 1.3 million euros in 2022.
In the ad is in the foreground by Alexander Stubb the election number and the qr code of the ad leads Fundu's CEO Lasse Vuola to the blog, where he lines up to support Stubb from the two remaining options. The second round will be held on Sunday.
Vuola justifies his choice by Stubb's higher education and the fact that Stubb has been in the army and Haavisto has not. Haavisto completed his civil service.
Stubb served the army in Santahamina, returning home as a jaeger, i.e. a common soldier. In 2008, he was promoted to corporal, the second lowest military rank.
Haavisto stated about his civil service when asked Ilta-Sanomthat he also has experience with these themes, as a hundred-person military unit has operated under him in his assignments in Sudan and Darfur.
Managing director In his blog, Vuola proposes to change the constitution so that the president of the republic would be subject to eligibility requirements “at least in relation to education and possibly military service”.
Vuola writes that “the experiences of a president who has not served in the army are miserable”. With this, she refers to the only female president in the history of Finland Tarja Halonen. According to Vuola, Halonen “failed catastrophically as Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces”, he cites, among other things, the cuts in the Defense Forces as the reason.
HS called Vuola and asked for the reasons for the ad.
Why did Fundu decide to take such a strong position on the presidential election?
“Now if ever the election of the president is of fundamental importance for the entire nation, which here also means companies of all sizes. Our policy has been since the foundation to participate in the social debate when it is directly or indirectly related to our operating environment and especially to Finnish SMEs and their success.”
Under the blog title, it was written that the text does not represent the views of Fundu or its owners. How can you say that when both HS's ad and blog include the company's logo?
“It is quite common for the company to link to its CEO's blog. Taking a personal position here means that it has not been discussed in any of the company's institutions, that now Fundu as a company has this opinion.”
Don't you see such a strong position as a risk for business operations or customers?
“It's hard to see a risk in that. I see that the company acts responsibly when it also takes a stand on the social debate. Especially if it is factual and based on facts, objective facts. It's a different matter if we go to the emotional side and the wrongs.”
Wouldn't excluding candidates who hadn't served in the military practically exclude a large part of the presidency from women?
“As I stated in the blog, there are problems with this proposal. They could be rotated so that the candidate should have a helpful understanding of the operation of the defense forces, for example by attending a voluntary defense course. No one should be discriminated against, for example, based on age or gender.”
What do you think separates a civil servant and a corporal as president?
“In my opinion, a person who has been in the green of the army somehow understands the operating environment more deeply. It's hard to get that from any manual. In my opinion, a person who has been in the army has better conditions to become a commander-in-chief in this regard. It doesn't mean that someone who hasn't been in the army can't perform that task excellently.”
Would lieutenant be better than corporal?
“I don't take a stand on that. Everyone has to judge it for themselves. The voting decision is an overall assessment.”
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