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| Affiliation | Independent |
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| Name | Sauli Niinistö |
| Address |
, , Finland |
| Email | None |
| Website | http://www.niinisto.net/ |
| Born |
August 24, 1948 |
| Died |
Still Living
(76 years) |
| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Modifed | 411 Name Removed
Feb 01, 2012 02:49pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (born August 24, 1948, Salo, Finland) is a Director at the European Investment Bank, lawyer, former Finnish finance minister and candidate in the Finnish presidential election, 2006.
He ran his own law firm in Salo, before entering national politics.
Niinistö served on the municipal council of Salo in 1977–1992 and was elected Member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) from the district of Finland Proper in 1987. In 1994 he was chosen to lead the National Coalition Party as the party chairman and subsequently became Justice Minister in Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's first cabinet in 1995.
Switching portfolios, Niinistö became Finance Minister in 1996, a place he held also in Lipponen's second cabinet in 1999–2003. In both cabinets, conservative Niinistö was deputy to social democrat Lipponen, thus enabling the use of the term rainbow government in reference to Lipponen's two consecutive cabinets. As Finance Minister Niinistö was known for his strict fiscal policy as well as his hobby of roller skating.
A charismatic figure, Niinistö was appealed to by his party to run for president in the the elections of 2000, but he refused.
Niinistö announced his gradual retirement from politics in 2001, a course of action he has not completely followed to date. He was succeeded that year by Ville Itälä as party leader. Upon the end of his term as a cabinet minister in 2003, Niinistö went on to become vice-chairman of the Board of Directors at the European Investment Bank.
While a cabinet minister Niinistö, a widower, became romantically involved with opposition MP Tanja Karpela, a former beauty queen and later Minister of Culture. Ms. Karpela's Centre Party was in opposition and Mr. Niinistö was considered the second-most influential man in government. Under close press scrutiny ever since, in 2003 Karpela and Niinistö announced their engagement, which was however dissolved in 2004.
In Finland, Niinistö is also remembered as one of the survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
In March 2005, Niinistö announced his candidacy in the presidential election of 2006, challenging the incumbent president Tarja Halonen. He qualified for the runoff, and will be challenging Halonen alone on January 29, 2006.
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