Laois Offaly TD leading the way in Laois European vote believe Fianna Fáil tally
Votes for Barry Cowen and 26 other candidates being sorted in Portlaoise
Laois Offaly Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen is leading the way in Laois in the fight to win a European Parliament seat, according to his party's tally team.
With plenty of boxes yet to open in Laois and an official tally yet to be published, the party have seen enough returns to say Dep Cowen is leading the way with Nina Carberry of Fine Gael in second place.
Former RTÉ Midlands correspondent Ciarán Muloolly is said to be the third leading candidate.
Favourite to be returned Ming Flanagan is not doing as well as expected.
Anecdotal evidence from the sorting of votes shows that a cross-section of candidates are winning votes from the field of 27 candidates.
After sorting at CBS / Scoil Chriost Ri in Portlaoise the Laois European votes will be transferred to Westport for counting starting on Sunday.
Laois Live election blog here