In 2004, Finnish President Tarja Halonen visited Nicaragua where she stated " The Finnish government and Parliament have decided that Nicaragua is one of the main targets of Finnish development aid.

Halonen is a graduate of the University of Helsinki, where she studied law from 1963 to 1968.

Halonen is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of Kallio which is a traditional working-class area in central Helsinki.

In a 2001 Halonen said that she is worried about the Russian response if NATO approved membership bids by Baltic countries.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga asked what she meant and whether Halonen is actively opposing NATO membership of Baltic countries.

In those flyers, " Niinistö is presented as the horror of worker, whereas SAK-supported Halonen is like a worker's dream ".

* February 6 – Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland.

The beautiful and serene building is now a museum that includes original furnishings and Halonen ’ s own art on the walls.

There is a painting by Pekka Halonen in the post-impressionist section of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary.

He is the husband of Tarja Halonen, who was the President of Finland between 2000 and 2012.

This is also the view held by Vanhanen, of the Centre Party, and Halonen.

Halonen was a surprising candidate as she didn't represent many traditional values: She was known as a left-wing social democratic party member, who lived in a domestic partnership, was a single parent and had resigned from the national church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

This was reversed in the 2000s, when Tarja Halonen and Erkki Tuomioja made Finland's official policy to resist other EU members ' plans for common defense.

Halonen served in the parliament of Finland for six terms, from 1979 to 2000, representing the constituency of Helsinki.

Halonen announced in 1999 that she wished to stand as a candidate for President in the 2000 Presidential elections.

On 20 May 2005, Halonen held a press conference in Mäntyniemi where she announced her willingness to run for a second term.

In 2008, Halonen nominated SDP-affiliated Ritva Viljanen for a second term in the Interior Ministry.

In 2009, Halonen rejected calls to apologize for Finland's attitude towards Estonian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Esko Aho lost the bid for President of Finland to Tarja Halonen in 2000.

He qualified for the second round runoff as one of the top two candidates in the first round, but was defeated by the incumbent Tarja Halonen with 51. 8 % of the vote against his 48. 2 %.

Halonen stated that he never painted for anyone but himself.

He held the position of Minister of Trade and Industry in Lipponen's 2nd government, and became the Minister for Foreign Affairs after Tarja Halonen was elected the President of Finland.

He received 18. 6 % of the vote, coming third to the National Coalition Party's Sauli Niinistö ( 24. 1 %) and Social Democrat and incumbent Tarja Halonen ( 46. 3 %), and thus did not qualify for the runoff.

Vanhanen expressed his support for Niinistö in the runoff election against his coalition partner's candidate Halonen.

Center Party's candidate Esko Aho qualified for the runoff, and was defeated by a one-percent margin in the runoff by Tarja Halonen.

In November 2003, the Simon Wiesenthal Center submitted an official request to Finnish President Tarja Halonen for a full-scale investigation by the Finnish authorities of the prisoner exchange In the subsequent study by Professor Heikki Ylikangas it turned out that about 2000 of the exchanged prisoners joined the Wehrmacht, but among the rest there were about 500 political officers or politically dangerous persons, who most likely perished in concentration camps.

Passman and Halonen contended that the widespread occurrence of attachments to pacifiers as well as their importance as security objects should reassure parents that they are a normal part of development for a majority of infants.

He qualified for the second round runoff ( as one of the top two candidates in the first round ), held on 29 January 2006, but was defeated by Tarja Halonen.

In Finland the choice was criticized by some and a group of religious leaders even called for President Halonen to veto their entry.

At the concert, President of Finland Tarja Halonen made an official appearance to give Lordi a bronze key flag award for exemplary work.

# Kaari Utrio, author and feminist ; for Tarja Halonen

After the first round, he joined the other centre-right candidates in expressing his support for Sauli Niinistö in the runoff election between Niinistö and Tarja Halonen.

Autti attended the event with Mattila, where they met the President, Tarja Halonen — who was re-elected for a second term on January 29, 2006 — and her husband Pentti Arajävi.

A presidential election was held in Finland on 15 and 29 January, 2006 which resulted in the Tarja Halonen as President of Finland for a second six-year term.

The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 until her election to the presidency.

Her mother Lyyli Elina Loimola was a set-dresser and her father Vieno Olavi Halonen worked as a welder.

After the war the couple decided to get a divorce, and in 1950 Lyyli Halonen married her new husband Thure Forss, who worked as an electrician and was very active in the working-class community.

Halonen later said that her mother was a true survivor, always an extremely active and resilient person who valued good, honest and modest hardworking people.

In the second round, Halonen narrowly defeated her opponent with 51. 6 % against 48. 4 % thus becoming Finland's first female President.

American talk show host Conan O ' Brien made recurring jokes about Halonen on his show, Late Night with Conan O ' Brien, because of his own resemblance to her.

He endorsed Halonen and produced humorous mock campaign ads and attack ads against her opponents.

Early in her political career Halonen represented the far left wing of her former party ( Social Democrat ).

Throughout her political career, Halonen has described herself as supporter of international solidarity.

Halonen and her husband Pentti Arajärvi | Dr. Pentti Arajärvi in 2003.

President Halonen says her interests include art history, the theatre and swimming.

On 26 August 2000, President Halonen married her longtime partner, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, in a civil ceremony at her official residence, Mäntyniemi, after a relationship of more than fifteen years.

Halonen, the main left-wing candidate and incumbent president, has further indicated that the president's powers should not be increased either, since it would, in her opinion, reduce the degree of democratic decision-making.

President Tarja Halonen was born in Kallio and lived there until her election as president in 2000.