Presidential Election: Will Catherine Connolly's win mean a larger left vote in future elections?

Is Catherine Connolly’s victory in the recent presidential election a sign that Ireland will have more left leaning votes in the next general election? Writes Tipperary Live.

Catherine Connolly won 63 % of the first-preference votes in last Friday’s presidential election, winning the title with a landslide victory.

Connolly, an Independent TD, was backed by a coalition of left-leaning political parties such as Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.

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Does Catherine Connolly’s landslide victory show a change in who Irish voters want to be a part of our government, or was her win just down to a lack of choice?

While it’s clear more and more people in Ireland are voting for left-leaning parties, the role of our President in Ireland is a symbolic one.

It is hard to say that a vote for a left-leaning president will equal to another left-leaning government in the next general election.

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Michael D Higgins, the last person to win the presidential election in Ireland, is also a left-leaning candidate. However, his win did not mean that a majority left government was voted in during any of the general elections that followed. Instead after our last general election for example, the current government now is a coalition made up of centre-right parties.

The high number of spoiled votes in this most recent election also suggests that voters are unhappy with the choice of a centre right or a left candidate.

So while Catherine Connolly’s recent victory is a strong indicator that there are more people interested in left-leaning parties in Ireland, it is still not a guarantee that the next general election will see a majority left-leaning government elected.

However, of course we cannot fully predict everything that will happen in the following years before our next general election which is due to take place no later than December 2029.