Hopes were high for a win in the first round, but instead of winning a seat Finland trailed in third and last. Australia won the initial vote with 140 votes, sending Finland into a second round run-off against Luxembourg.
The Finns lost again in that vote, ending a decade-long campaign.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja rejected the idea that Finland's neutrality and non-NATO membership could have affected the vote.
He pointed out that Luxembourg was perhaps looked upon favourably as it had not previously been a candidate. Finland has already served two terms on the Security Council. Tuomioja also criticised the voting system in the election, saying that swapping promises of support years in advance was an ‘artificial arrangement’.
UN a place for poor south to wield influence
Others had more concrete suggestions as to why the bid failed. Professor of global politics Teivo Teivainen told Yle that poor developing countries' votes were decisive in the vote. He blamed embassy closures in South America and reduced Finnish development aid for the lack of support.
Teivainen described the UN General Assembly as “really the only place in the world where poor countries have some kind of opportunity to be this influential.”
“Maybe Finland does not have a profile, at least in the UN, as a driver of the kinds of issues that affect the poor global south, the kind of profile that would definitely have helped in a campaign like this,” added the Helsinki University academic.
Although they didn't get the hoped-for result, Tuomioja praised Finland's diplomats for running a good campaign. President Sauli Niinistö also looked on the bright side.
“It’s not the end of the world, or our UN life,” said Niinistö. “This has brought a lot of experience and contacts as well. There are a lot of real plusses for Finland.”
Thanks to the gentleman's agreement among Nordic countries, Finland must now wait twenty years before trying again.