Editing Tarja Halonen (section)

===2006 presidential campaign===
[[File:Halonen Changemaker.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Halonen in March 2005]]
[[File:Halonen and Lula.jpg|thumb|Halonen together with [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]], then [[President of Brazil]].]]
{{Main|2006 Finnish presidential election}}
On 20 May 2005, Halonen held a press conference in [[Mäntyniemi]] where she announced her willingness to run for a second term. Officially, this was the desired answer for the SDP delegation that had visited her two days earlier. In addition to her own party's support, the leader of the [[Left Alliance (Finland)|Left Alliance]], [[Suvi-Anne Siimes]], gave her support for Halonen's future campaign.

[[Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions|SAK]] openly lobbied for her re-election. It used its members' money on [[mudslinging]] campaigns on behalf of Halonen. In those flyers, "Niinistö is presented as the horror of worker, whereas SAK-supported Halonen is like a worker's dream". Halonen said she approved of the flyers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/arkisto.shtml/arkistot/kotimaa/2006/01/419943 |title=Niinistö kiistää SAK:n syytökset |access-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612121644/http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/arkisto.shtml/arkistot/kotimaa/2006/01/419943 |archive-date=12 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A study analyzed newspaper articles and concluded that the main newspaper ''[[Helsingin Sanomat]]'' produced almost exclusively positive tone stories about Halonen and much more negative tone articles about candidates Niinistö, Vanhanen and Hautala.<ref>[http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Halonen+Halonen+Halonen/1768/ Halonen, Halonen, Halonen – Onko presidentti valtamedian erityissuosiossa?]. City</ref>

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.<ref name="Lookalike"/> He endorsed Halonen and produced humorous mock campaign ads and attack ads against her opponents. He went as far as visiting Finland and meeting Halonen.<ref name="Lookalike">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-02-14-obrien-finland_x.htm|title=Conan O'Brien meets with Finnish leader|date=14 February 2006|newspaper=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060304222105/https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-02-14-obrien-finland_x.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2006 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

On 19 November, the SDP's party council meeting was held; praised as "the president of the whole nation", she was unanimously chosen as the presidential candidate. Shortly thereafter, the party council of the Left Alliance gave the party's official support to Halonen.

Halonen's received 46% of the first round vote in the election. [[Sauli Niinistö]] (of the [[Kokoomus|National Coalition Party]]) was second with 24%. They faced each other in a runoff on 29 January 2006, where Halonen was re-elected with 51.8% of the vote against Mr. Niinistö's 48.2%. The re-election was a close call. She led in the advance voting, but she eventually received fewer votes on the actual voting day than Mr. Niinistö did.