Public broadcaster Yle predicted that Alexander Stubb and Pekka Haavisto will meet in the second round on February 11th.

Center-right candidate Alexander Stubb of Finland’s National Coalition Party appeared to win the first round of the country’s presidential election on Sunday and is likely to face liberal Green MP Pekka Haavisto in a runoff.

With 96 percent of votes counted, Stubb was in the lead with 27.1 percent support, Justice Department data showed, followed by Haavisto with 25.7 percent and nationalist Jussi Halla-aho with 19.0 percent support.

Public broadcaster Yle predicted that Stubb and Haavisto will meet in the second round, scheduled for February 11.

Finland chooses one new president to lead the country in its new role within NATO after it broke with decades of non-alignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and joined the Western defense alliance.

“I think Finns are looking for a president of a new era,” Stubb, a former prime minister, told public broadcaster Yle.

Haavisto, who was foreign minister until last year, said he expected to advance to the second round.

“This is a great result from the first round and a very big gap to those behind us, so I believe we will move on to the second round with Alexander Stubb,” he told Yle.

War in Ukraine

The role of the President of Finland is to lead foreign and security policy in close cooperation with the government, to represent the country at NATO meetings and also to act as Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces.

All three leading candidates are supporters of Ukraine and have called for tough measures against Russia.

Both Stubb and Haavisto leaned towards the political center during the election campaign, while Halla-aho maintained his right-wing conservative profile.

For many Finns, the nationalist Halla-aho is a divisive figure who attracts both loyal supporters and staunch opponents.

In Helsinki, a pre-voter, 26-year-old Leena Boksha, told Reuters that it was particularly important to take part in the election because of the war in Ukraine and the difficult situation it caused.

Boksha said Stubb, seen by Finns as a cosmopolitan pro-European, was the right person to lead the country’s foreign policy at this time.

“I voted for Alexander Stubb because I think he is very good at dealing with other countries and has a good relationship with people outside Finland,” said Boksha, who was traveling with her baby on Sunday to get a friend to vote accompany.

Jere Markkinen, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student, had a different view.

“I don’t think he is [Stubb] would be a very good president because he seems to want to represent not the people but himself,” Markkinen told Reuters, adding that he had voted for Haavisto in advance.

“He has experience in foreign policy and, unlike some other candidates, is known for being generally smart.”

Finland’s entry into NATO last year also sparked threats of “countermeasures” from its much larger neighbor Russia.

In December, Finland closed its entire border with Russia to passenger traffic in response to a surge in migrants attempting to cross the border. Moscow denied Finland’s allegations of sending the migrants there.

The new Finnish president will replace 75-year-old incumbent Sauli Niinisto, who must step down after two six-year terms.

During his time in office, he was nicknamed the “Putin Whisperer” for his role in maintaining close ties with Russia, long a key role for Finnish presidents.