LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Tarja Halonen
built 645 days ago
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of Kallio, Helsinki, traditionally a working-class area, the daughter of Vieno Olavi Halonen and Lyyli Elina Loimola. She obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of Helsinki in 1968. Halonen served as the Social Affairs Secretary and General Secretary of the National Union of Students (SYL) from 1969 to 1970 and, partly due to having held this position, she obtained a post as a lawyer with the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) from 1970 to 1974. She joined the Social Democratic Party in 1971.
Source:
A genial oddball, Tarja Halonen is as unexpected a person as her predecessor Martti Ahtisaari, whose emergence from diplomacy and election in 1994 took the political elite by surprise. Six years later, Halonen, a Leftist single mother with an obvious speech defect, was elected the first ever female president of the republic. As foreign minister - she was ... the first woman - she had won wide respect for her sometimes inspirational handling of Finland's EU presidency in 1999.
Source:
In the second round of the Presidential election Tarja Halonen defeated her rival candidate Sauli Niinistö. The total number of votes cast for Halonen was 1,630,833, that is, 51.8percent of all votes cast. Sauli Niinistö, the runner-up, received 1,517,947votes, or 48.2percent of all votes, which means that the support for Halonen was 3.6percentagepoints higher than that for Sauli Niinistö. The election result was quite even; in numbers, the difference was a total of 112,866votes. Around 893,900votes remained to be divided as a "legacy" from the first round. Compared with the first round of the election, the proportion of Niinistö grew by 792,079votes (by 24.1percentagepoints) and that of Halonen by 120,917votes (by 5.5percentagepoints).
Source:
On Saturday President Tarja Halonen, 59, reached the half-way point of her six-year term in office. Finland's first woman president has reason to be pleased with the past three years: the nation has accepted hre as President and approves of her performance. Among some groups her approval rating is 100%. If the support figures were to rise much more, it would be downright embarrassing from the point of view of democracy. Based on three years of experience, Halonen does not seem to have taken on the role of a true national leader. Instead, she has taken on more of a symbolic role as interpreter of the feelings of the people.
Source:
Tarja Halonen was elected the 11th President of Finland in February 2000 and assumed office on 1 March 2000. She is Finland's first female head of state. President Halonen was born in Helsinki in 1943. She graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1968 and has a Master of Law degree. President Halonen became a lawyer with the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions in 1970, continuing in this position during her political career as a Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. President Halonen joined the Social Democratic Party in 1971.
Source:
President Tarja Halonen was born on December 24th 1943 in Helsinki. Her parents were Vieno Olavi Halonen and Lyyli Elina Loimola. She has lived for most of her life in Kallio in Helsinki. President Halonen is married to Mr Pentti Arajärvi. He is a licetiate in laws. He was born on June 2nd 1948.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Tarja Halonen