Sari Essayah has chaired the Christian Democrats for eight years, spending nearly all that time in the opposition until the party joined Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) right-wing coalition government last year.
As a former athlete and member of the European Parliament, Essayah is aiming to combine her international nous and sporting popularity to raise her party's profile in the presidential election.
Her style as party leader is a marked change from her predecessor Päivi Räsänen, who has repeatedly entered into culture war debates.
But the party's roots in Finland's rural bible belt regions are still evident, and that influences her campaigning style and policy positions.
Essayah took the agriculture and forestry ministry portfolio in Orpo's right-wing government and has not been a fan of moves to ban fur farming, even amid recent outbreaks of bird flu. Instead, she has called for fur farmers to again receive investment support, a subsidy Sanna Marin's (SDP) administration had withdrawn.
In the autumn she also opposed an EU plan to ban Baltic Sea herring fishing near Finnish waters, calling the prohibition — which aimed to revitalise dwindling herring stocks — "disproportionate and unreasonable." She has also defended special hunting permits for lynx, Finland's only wildcat, to manage the population.
This is part of a series of profiles on candidates in the presidential election. Our really simple guide provides some essential information about the race to become Finland's next president.
A conservative choice
Running for president for a second time, Essayah said she stands out from her competitors by being the conservative choice for voters. That's a clear statement in the 'values' element of the president's role, which is traditionally a way to try and reach across divides to unify society.
Her party's election platforms have generally focused on traditional values safeguarding families — as long as they are heteronormative.
Last summer Essayah said the government should not participate in events like Helsinki Pride, if not supported by the entire cabinet. The comment echoed the sentiments of her party leader predecessor, Räsänen, who was acquitted of incitement charges for public comments about homosexuals.
Finland legalised same-sex marriage six years ago, but the Christian Democrats, staunch opponents of such unions, still say that "marriage must be preserved legally as a union between a man and a woman." Essayah is married to former triathlete Robert Knapp.
Overall the Christan Democrats advocate for socially conservative positions in the Finnish system. On abortion, the Christian Democrats have wanted to tighten the law to make it more difficult to terminate pregnancies in some circumstances, and allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions on grounds of conscience.
As part of the government, the Christian Democrats did not stop Finland loosening abortion restrictions last year. The country previously had the strictest abortion laws in the Nordic region, requiring women to get approval from two doctors in order to terminate a pregnancy. The government said the changes were necessary to secure a pregnant woman's right to self-determination.
Essayah has gone on the record saying she doesn’t believe in evolution and has defended Finland's practice of separating school pupils by faith for religious education classes.
"When you know your own religious background it's easier to understand and also respect others' views," she previously told Yle News.
Support for Israel
Essayah, a mother of two grown children, is one of three women — along with the SDP's Jutta Urpilainen and the Left Alliance's Li Andersson — running for president in this election. She inherited her non-Finnish last name from her Moroccan father, with whom she reportedly has no relationship.
Since the Israel-Gaza war broke out, Essayah has, in line with her Pentecostal beliefs, come out as an ardent supporter of Israel. She has been vocal about Israel's right to defend itself, suggesting that some of her fellow candidates seem to lack a clear stance on whether Finland should back Israel.
"Considering that Hamas' attack caused the largest mass destruction of Jews since the Holocaust, these views are at the very least perplexing," Essayah, who served on the European Parliament's delegation on Israeli relations, told her party's newspaper, KD.
From athletics to auditing
Fifty-six-year-old Essayah started out in local politics as a teenager, and she is one of a handful of Finnish politicians to have served at the municipal and parliamentary levels (since 2009 and 2003-2007), as well as the European Parliament (centre-right EPP Group 2009-2014), in addition to having run for president.
Her accomplishments, however, extend beyond being a career politician. In the early 1990s, Essayah was a world class race walker, winning gold medals in the 10km event at the World and European Championships. It was in the early stages of her professional sporting career that she said she experienced a personal religious awakening.
"I had a sense of security knowing that the Heavenly Father was present on the sports field, even amid intense pressure. It was also reassuring to know that God accepts me, even if I finished last," she told Iltalehti in 2011.
After concluding her athletic career, Essayah studied to become a Pentecostal preacher. Adherents of the movement say they are driven by the power of God moving within them.
Often citing the importance of exercise as preventive medicine, she has since 2016 been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Essayah has also put her business degree from the University of Vaasa to use, working as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Kuopio in the late 1990s as well as for Nordic telecoms firm TeliaSonera in Turku in the early 2000s.
Yle's presidential election compass offers a viewpoint on how the candidates line up on various issues. The compass is available in English here.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.