Sauli Niinisto Biography

Sauli Vainamo Niinisto is a Finnish politician who is excellently known as Sauli Niinisto. He is well recognized for serving as president of Finland since 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. He was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Minister of Justice from 1995 to 1996, Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003, Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 2001, and the NCP candidate in the 2006 presidential election. Also, he has served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2007 to 2011 and has been the honorary president of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 2002. Sauli is also the first NCP president since Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who left office in 1956. Moreover, he has also gained a lovely fan base on social media as he has earned over 407.6K followers on his Twitter account.

What is Sauli Niinisto Famous For?

• Being a Finnish politician.
• For serving as president of Finland since 2012.

Who is Sauli Niinisto president of Finland?

Sauli Niinisto took birth on 24th August 1948 with the real name of Sauli Vainamo Niinisto in Salo, Southwest Finland, Finland. He holds Finnish nationality and he came from Finnish-white ethnic background. Similarly, his religious belief is in the Christian religion and his race is white. Sauli’s present age is 73 which he celebrated back in 2021 and as per his birthdate, his zodiac sign is Virgo. He is the son of the circulation manager of Salon Seudun Sanomat Vaino Niinisto (father; 1911-1991) and nurse Hilkka Niinisto (mother; 1916-2014). His godfather Fjalar Nordell was a founder of Salora. He has three siblings named Kari Niinisto, Kirsi Saarnivaara, and Virve Partanen.

Talking about Sauli’s academic qualifications, he graduated from the “Salon normaalilyseo” high school in 1967, after which he went to study at the University of Turku. From there he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1974. 

Sauli Niinisto Political Career 

• Sauli Niinisto began his carer running his own law firm in Salo between 1978-1988 before entering national politics after which he served on the municipal council of Salo from 1977 to 1992 and was elected a Member of the Parliament of Finland from the district of Finland Proper in 1987.
• He was chosen to lead the NCP as party chairman in 1994 and subsequently became Justice Minister in Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen’s first cabinet in 1995.
• He became Finance Minister in 1996 and was Deputy Prime Minister under social democrat Lipponen. 
• He was also the first Finn to make a purchase with euros on 1st January 2002 but, he announced his gradual retirement from politics in 2001, and he was succeeded that year by Ville Itala as party leader.
• He became vice-chairman of the board of directors at the European Investment Bank and announced his candidacy for the 2006 presidential election in March 2005.
• He qualified for the second round runoff held on 29th January 2006 but lost to Halonen and he announced in 2006 that he was standing again for the 2007 parliamentary election as he received 60,563 votes in the 2007 elections, a record in a Finnish parliamentary election; it was about 21% more than the 1948 record of Hertta Kuusinen.
• He negotiated the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU) into the EPP in 2002 and became its Honorary President and was elected as the president of the Football Association of Finland on 8 November 2009.
• As well, he was the NCP candidate for a second time in the 2012 presidential election as he won the election’s first round and faced off against Haavisto of the Green League in the decisive second round with 37.0% of the vote. He carried the second round with around 62.6% against Haavisto’s 37.4%. Niinisto’s margin of victory was larger than that of any previous directly elected president.
• He announced in May 2017 that he would seek re-election in the 2018 presidential election and in the election, Sauli received 62.7% of the votes, becoming the first president in Finland to get elected in the first round of the popular vote.
• When he was asked to shed light on his thoughts about Putin after the Russian attack on Ukraine on 24th February 2022, Niinisto replied: “The masks have now been taken off, showing only the face of war.”
• He officially hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Putin for the US-Russia summit in Helsinki on 16th July 2018. He was involved 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York on 25th September 2018.
• Russian President Putin ordered the Russian Armed Forces to begin an invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022. 
• Niinisto did a one-day visit to Washington DC to meet President Joe Biden and a number of other US politicians and security personnel on 4th March 2022. They agreed on deepening Finnish-US security cooperation and bilateral relations. 
• On 12th May 2022, ten weeks after the beginning of the invasion, president Sauli and prime minister Sanna Marin advocated in a joint statement for a ‘NATO membership without delay’.
• Besides, Sauli appears as an animated character in the political satire TV series “The Autocrats”.

Sauli Niinisto Wife, Children

Sauli Niinisto is a married man. He tied a knot with his first wife, Marja-Leena (nee Alanko), in 1974 and they had two sons. Sadly, Marja-Leena was killed in a car crash in January 1995. Sauli wrote about the time after the death of his first wife in his book “Viiden vuoden yksinaisyys”. Then he was romantically involved with MP Tanja Karpela with whom he got engaged. But they ended their relationship in 2004. In 2005, Niinisto met Jenni Haukio and got marriedon 3rd January 2009. The couple announced in October 2017 that they were expecting a child, and they subsequently had a son, who was born in February 2018. Concerning his sexual orientation, he is straight.

Sauli Niinisto Salary, Income, Net Worth 2022

Sauli Niinisto has a net worth of $1.6 million as of 2022. He also earns a handsome amount of salary which is around $4,00,000 per year. He has achieved huge fame and success. With a tremendous amount of net worth, Sauli is living a lavish and luxurious life. In addition, his major source of income is his political career and he is happy and satisfied with the profession he is in.

How tall is Sauli Niinisto?

Sauli Niinisto is 1.77 m tall and his body build type is average. He has grey hair and lights brown eyes color. Sauli has kept his body maintained at this age too which is so awesome.