Presidential elections were held in Finland in January and February 2012. The first round took place on 22 January 2012 with advance voting between 11 and 17 January. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 5 February, with advance voting between 25 and 31 January. Sauli Niinistö was elected the President of Finland for a term from 1 March 2012 until 1 March 2018. All eight political parties represented in Parliament nominated a candidate during the latter half of 2011. Incumbent President Tarja Halonen was ineligible for re-election, having served the maximum two terms. In the first round, no candidate received a majority of votes. Thus, a runoff election was held between Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party, with 37% of the first-round vote, and Pekka Haavisto of the Green League, who received 18.8% of the first-round vote. Niinistö led the polls prior to the elections, while Haavisto was neck-and-neck with Paavo Väyrynen of the Centre Party competing for second place, ultimately defeating Väyrynen by a margin of 1.3 percentage points (about 37,000 votes). Sauli Niinistö won the second round with 62.6% of the votes (1.8 million votes), while Pekka Haavisto received 37.4% of the votes (1.1 million votes). The elections marked an end to an era of Social Democratic presidents. The Social Democrats had held the office for a continuous period of 30 years. It was also the first time that a Green League candidate was on the runoff ballot. Power of the president The President's powers were curtailed in the constitutional reform in 2000, and yet further in 2012. Currently the President leads the Finnish foreign policy together with the cabinet. EU affairs, however, fall to the Prime Minister's authority. The President has little domestic power. He or she can dissolve the parliament, but only at the Prime Minister's request. The President can choose not to ratify a bill, but this only returns it to parliament, which must then approve the bill again in order for it to become a law without the President's signature. The President's power to appoint officials has been reduced, but he or she still appoints all military officers as well as judges. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces. The President also has the power to pardon anyone convicted of a crime. With the curtailment of the President's formal powers, many