Counting begins in Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections
The process of sorting and counting votes in two closely-watched by-elections has begun.
Two new members of the Dail will be elected in the process after voters in parts of Galway and Dublin went to the polls on Friday.
They chose from a range of candidates to fill the seats vacated by Catherine Connolly when she became president and former minister Paschal Donohoe, who left political life to become the World Bank’s chief knowledge officer.
The respective by-elections are being held in Galway West and Dublin Central.
The first boxes holding ballots were opened at 9am as counts got under way at the RDS in Dublin and the Galway Lawn Tennis Club.
A sense of the race quickly began to emerge as tally counters observed the sorting of the votes.
Social Democrats candidate Daniel Ennis secured the most first preferences in the Dublin Central by-election, according to an unofficial tally of the ballots.
Asked about the early indications, current Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central Gary Gannon told the Press Association the party was “obviously delighted”.
“It is a real endorsement of the type of politics Social Demcorats stand for and Daniel too.”
He added: “Knock on people’s doors, don’t generate hate and be ideas focused – and people are buying into it.
“We’ve had what’s clearly an outstanding result today and that’s been shown in previous elections too where the Social Democrats’ vote has grown – and people are seeing the Social Democrats as a proper alternative for what comes next in Irish politics.”
Mr Ennis and Ms Boylan were followed by Green Party’s Janet Horner (11.5%), narrowly ahead of Gerard “The Monk” Hutch (11.4%) and Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam (10.7%).
The remaining candidates each secured less than 1% of first preferences, according to the tally.
Official counting will take several hours as candidates are eliminated and their votes are transferred, with the winner expected to be declared on Saturday evening.
With more than 43% of boxes opened in Galway West, the tally put Fine Gael’s Sean Kyne on 20.5% of first preferences, followed by Independent Ireland and former Fianna Fail representative Noel Thomas on 19.9% and Labour’s Helen Ogbu on 12.3%.
The votes must first be sorted before counting formally begins, in a process which takes several hours because of Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference.
It means the voting slips need to be counted several times, an undertaking which is expected to last until Sunday for Galway West.
The campaign of Hutch, who has been described in court by a judge as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation, has been closely watched in the constituency.
The other TDs in the four-seater constituency are Labour’s Marie Sherlock and Mr Gannon.
Others in contention for Galway West are Social Democrats’ Mide Nic Fhionnlaoich, Sinn Fein’s Mark Lohan, Green Party candidate Niall Murphy, Fianna Fail’s Cillian Keane, People Before Profit’s Denman Rooke, and Aontu’s Orla Nugent.
Galway City mayor Mike Cubbard is among independents Neill Bairead, Patrick Feeney, Sheila Garrity, John OLeary, Michael Ryan and Thomas Welby – with AJ Cahill running for The Irish People.
The current TDs for Galway West are Fianna Fail’s John Connolly, Sinn Fein’s Mairead Farrell, Minister of State and independent TD Noel Grealish, and Fine Gael Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton.