Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1925. On 15 and 16 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the president. The result was a victory for Lauri Kristian Relander, who won on the third ballot. The turnout for the popular vote was just 40%.
The outgoing president, Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, had refused to seek a second term. According to Agrarian and Centrist politician, Johannes Virolainen, he stepped down after one term because he believed that an incumbent president would be too likely to win re-election. Ståhlberg claimed that he had already completed his political service to Finland as president. Moreover, he wanted to step down because many right-wing Finns (especially veterans of the Civil War and supporters of the Greater Finland movement) opposed him. According to historian Pentti Virrankoski, Ståhlberg hoped that his retirement would advance parliamentary politics in Finland. Ståhlberg's party, the Progressives, chose Risto Ryti, the governor of the Bank of Finland, as their presidential candidate. The Agrarians only chose Lauri Kristian Relander as their presidential candidate in early February 1925. The National Coalitioners originally chose former Regent and Prime Minister Pehr Evind Svinhufvud as their presidential candidate, but before the presidential electors met, they replaced Svinhufvud with Hugo Suolahti, an academician working as the rector of the University of Helsinki. Relander surprised many politicians by defeating Ryti as a dark-horse candidate, although he had served as the Speaker of Parliament and as Governor of the Province of Viipuri. Ståhlberg had quietly favoured Ryti as his successor because he considered Ryti a principled and unselfish politician. He was disappointed with Relander's victory and told one of his daughters that if he had known beforehand that Relander would be elected as his successor, he would have considered seeking a second term.
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