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Article 54
 

Election of the President of the Republic

(1) The President of the Republic is elected by a direct vote for a term of six years. The President shall be a native-born Finnish citizen. The same person may be elected President for no more than two consecutive terms of office.

(2) The candidate who receives more than half of the votes cast in the election shall be elected President. If none of the candidates has received a majority of the votes cast, a new election shall be held between the two candidates who have received most votes. In the new election, the candidate receiving the most votes is elected President. If only one presidential candidate has been nominated, he or she is appointed President without an election.

(3) The right to nominate a candidate in the election for President is held by any registered political party from whose candidate list at least one Representative was elected to the Parliament in the most recent parliamentary elections, as well as by any group of twenty thousand persons who have the right to vote. The time of the election and the procedure in the election of a President are laid down by an Act.