Finland elects a new president on Sunday to lead the country in its new role within NATO after it broke with decades of non-alignment to join the Western defense alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ednews informs via Reuters.

The Nordic country's admission to NATO last year drew threats of "counter measures" from its vast Russian neighbor.

In December, Finland closed its entire border with Russia to passenger traffic in response to a surge in migrants trying to cross. Moscow denied Finnish charges it was sending them there.

All nine candidates are promising a tough stance toward Russia if elected president, a role that leads on foreign and security policy in close cooperation with the government and represents the country at NATO meetings, while also acting as a Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces.

The center-right National Coalition's Alexander Stubb has emerged as the frontrunner, with recent polls giving him 22-27% support in a first round, just ahead of liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto, who polled at 20-23%.

The nationalist Finns Party's Jussi Halla-aho is not far behind Haavisto, at 15-18%.