The day after the first round of the presidential elections, Mika Aaltola returned from leave of absence to her day job as director of the Foreign Policy Institute. After his campaign, he feels that he is still a neutral expert.
January last monday morning.
The sun rose and people went to their workplaces in the morning. So did the party-politically non-committed presidential candidate, who returned to the leadership of the Foreign Policy Institute Mika Aaltola.
Even the night before, he was excited about how many Finns had given him their vote in the first round of the presidential election. His election supervisor was organized in the restaurant Kappel.
The result: 47,000 votes and 1.5 percent support.
After preliminary votes came out, Aaltola announced that he would return to work on Monday. During his campaign, he was on annual leave and on leave.
Returning to the institute was not a disappointment or a surprise for him. Aaltola says that he calculated in advance that this will probably happen.
Aaltola says that he avoided IT problems on his first day of work after his leave of absence. He says that he intends to dedicate the early spring to management work. When there is time, he has thought of making a research review of the US presidential elections and their significance in Finland.
Jobs he started at the institute's office in Töölö at 9:30 a.m. On the first day, he tried to meet many of the institute's employees and to catch up on the autumn events.
“It was nice. Familiar colleagues, lots of hugs and then, on the other hand, everyday life,” he says about his return day.
On Wednesday morning, you get a different picture of Aaltola than during the exams, where he has been seen performing a lot in the last month. He is more relaxed with the eyes, jokes and speaks a little more clearly. During the three quarters, he only uses figures of speech a couple of times.
When he gets to the study, he throws the tie away. He says he doesn't usually wear that at work. However, it is a special day, because in the afternoon he is going to the opening of the Diet. They are the last ones in which the president of the republic Sauli Niinistö speaks.
When the expert has been involved in political campaigning, it may be that people will see him as a politician in the future. What does Aaltola think about this?
After his campaign, he feels that he is still a neutral expert. Whether other people see the same way depends on who you ask
. He considers it significant that he went to the elections as an uncommitted candidate, from outside the parties.
He feels that he talked about the same things in his campaign that he has emphasized in his research.
Are you still planning to run for election again?
“That election campaign was exciting in its own way. Yes, it will take years before the next time you can manage to go on such a crunch without machinery.”
The best part of the campaign was meeting people from Aaltola. “After all, the campaign was running 24/7 and on a minute schedule, we scrambled to go all over Finland. An intense episode, I must say. Although he has imagined that he worked a lot for it, yes, during that time he probably worked the most in his life.”
Elections below, the media investigated the backgrounds of the candidates, and private lives were also discussed. For example Helsingin sanomat newspaper previously reported that the Aaltolas have said that they met in 2017. According to HS information, Mika Aaltola knew his future wife Kirsi Aaltolan even when he was in his previous relationship.
At the same time, it was also told about the behind-the-scenes game, after which Aaltola became the head of the institute.
It was not strange for Aaltola to return to work after his subordinates have been able to read about his life in the media.
“I think people know how to put the coverage of the elections into perspective,” he says.
He admits that the employees may have been pressured by the fact that many media called them before the election and asked about him.
He does not think that his own attitude towards the media has changed. He says that he knows how the media works, and there were no surprises for him.
“It is related to the elections and how the public focuses on the candidates. Maybe my own skin got a little thicker in that busyness.”
In progress it's a super election year. In 2024, for example, the presidential elections of Finland and the United States, the European elections and the parliamentary elections of India will be held.
In addition to elections, the institute is also busy with wars and confl
icts. They are underway at least in Ukraine and Gaza.
“There is a bit of a lack of abundance. And that's a sad thing, because it means there are a lot of crises in the world.”
In the process when there was a need for research, funding would decrease, Aaltola regrets. Parliament no longer increases the funding of the institute to the former model.
According to Aaltola, the institute's finances were in good hands during his absence. In the end, the budget was on the plus side of 325,000 euros. According to him, there is no intention to lay off anyone.
In the following years, however, the times are dark, because “a few hundred thousand” euros should be saved. All he needs for that is a general spending regime and streamlining of structures.
On Aaltola's desk are gifts that people have sent her. One of them was the World's Largest Sauna book, with a long letter in between.
Return to everyday life and routines, familiar and safe. Aaltola often uses similar expressions when talking about her return to work. Returning to a familiar position is obviously familiar when you have been in situations you are not used to for half a year.
On Sunday, it will be decided who will be the 13th president of Finland. Aaltola says that he follows the elections with interest. It's different to follow the exams when you've been there alongside the candidates who have passed.
He already knows who he's going to vote for, but he's not going to say it publicly.
He has his wife Kirsi Aaltolan with the habit of going to vote on the actual election day. Then they put on their holy clothes and go to election coffees after the vote, like many other working citizens.
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