'Ebullient and unpredictable' - Will newly-elected Stubb be a good President for Finland?

WATCH: Peter Oliver speaks to Finland's new President Alexander Stubb

It was a close-run thing, but center-right candidate Alexander Stubb will be the next President of Finland after winning Sunday's run-off election against liberal Green Party member rival Pekka Haavisto. With 99.7 percent of the votes counted, Haavisto conceded, giving Stubb the victory.

This was a very cordial election campaign. Both men happily provided live joint interviews to Finnish broadcasters as the figures for the vote count were shown alongside them at the election night headquarters in Helsinki City Hall.

As president, Stubb will be responsible for foreign policy. He will also be the one to shape how Finland fits into the NATO alliance. The Nordic nation joined after decades of neutrality as a result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Helsinki had, for many years, been a route for Western leaders to speak to Moscow. Fielding a question from CGTN Europe at the press conference immediately after being announced as the winner, it's safe to say that's not what Stubb has planned for Finland's immediate role in the alliance.

"I don't see our NATO identity through Russia as such," he said. "If the question was, 'what kind of a NATO member would I like to see? Finland? Us?' The starting point is that I want to see Finland at the core of NATO, that we are a security provider, not a security consumer, and that we have steadfast and strong support and defense in the alliance with our 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia. We have no limits to our NATO membership."

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After the formalities at Helsinki City Hall, it was time to thank his supporters and campaign staff. In paying tribute to his family, Stubb told CGTN Europe that his British-born wife Suzanne prompted him to get back into politics and run for head of state.

"She is a Finnish dual national, feels very strongly Finnish, and has lived here for 15 years. She's very patriotic. And she was the one who originally suggested that, now that Putin and Russia are behaving so aggressively, perhaps it was time to put my hat in the ring again."

The Finnish President-elect also addressed comments from U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump over the weekend where the former U.S. President said NATO states that don't pay their way with a minimum of two percent of GDP in the alliance wouldn't be defended by American troops.

Stubb told CGTN Europe that Trump's comments might have had more to do with the theater of U.S. politics than how things would play out.

"All I can say is that election campaigns in Finland are fair and square," he added. "They are free and just. We just had a good six month period when nine candidates challenged each other respectfully. 

"For us, foreign security policy is existential; and it shall continue to be so. American elections are quite different; I don't deny that. I've been following them since 1989, and the rhetoric is much stronger. And, of course, I respect American democracy like anyone else."

With a remit to shape both foreign and security policy, where will the major challenges lie for Stubb's presidency? 

Marko Junkkari is one of the best-known names in Finnish political journalism as a writer for the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. When I asked him what the big challenges for Stubb may be, the immediate answer was concise.

"I think that Russia and the war will be the biggest challenges, of course, for him," Junkkari said.

However, he also pointed out that Stubb's own, at times, ebullient personality may lead him into hot water with more conservative Finns, who want a little less "personality" from their politics, particularly in the role of president.

"He speaks a lot," Junkkari added. "He acts sometimes. I don't mean the kind of political decisions, but if he visits some place, he can do surprising things."

Stubb is no stranger to high office, having previously served as Finnish prime minister, foreign minister, and member of the European Parliament. He can now add president to that list of prestigious accolades.

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