At the start of the so-called “election exam”, the candidates spiritedly discussed their new support levels in the polls and the ambiguity surrounding the recent elections in Russia. In the second half of the debate, the candidates were faced with trivia show-like questions about Finland’s defence and security policy.

The first question was directed at the Centre Party’s Paavo Väyrynen. He was asked how many Finnish young adults complete military service. He answered correctly—80 percent.

The most popular candidate in the polls, the National Coalition Party’s Sauli Niinistö, also got his response about right. He estimated that some 300 Finns are currently engaged in various crisis management operations around the world. The actual number is 250, which constitutes a record low. Niinistö would be ready to raise that figure to 700 if Finland obtained a seat in the UN Security Council.

Soini and Lipponen off the mark

Timo Soini of the Finns Party overestimated the number of military garrisons in Finland. He said there were about 30, whereas in they actually number less than 20. He said he would be ready to do away with one of the garrisons.

The Social Democratic Party’s candidate, Paavo Lipponen, was asked about the number of Finns serving under the UN flag. His answer—500—was wrong by almost half, as about 250 Finns serve in mandated operations and a further 20 work as military observers.

According to Lipponen, Finland should be ready that it might become necessary to increase investment in crisis management tasks.

Struggling for answers

Sari Essayah of the Christian Democrats was asked where Finnish soldiers in the EU Battlegroup were last deployed. Essayah guessed Afghanistan, but this was a trick question as the battlegroup that Finnish soldiers are part of has not yet been deployed anywhere.

The Left Alliance’s Paavo Arhinmäki faced the task of explaining what one of the Finnish army’s acronyms stood for. He was unfamiliar with the expression. He opined that the term of Finland’s military service would shrink no matter who became president.

Pekka Haavisto of the Green League had to answer about basic personal equipment of reserve troops. He wondered whether this, too, was a trick question, and ended up saying that there were not enough weapons for 300,000 reservists. The question was in earnest, however—the right answer was a single assault rifle.

Finally, the candidate for the Swedish People’s Party, Eva Biaudet, got the question about the number of soldiers serving in the armed forces. Biaudet said there were 14,000, which is significantly more than the correct answer of 8,700. Biaudet said that the number of troops should be reduced.