Local Elections: Donal Coyle's seat at risk as Mary T makes gains
Aontú's Mary T. Sweeney is within 116 votes of sitting Fianna Fáil councillor Donal Coyle following the 9th count
Councillor Donal Coyle's seat may be at risk as Mary T. Sweeney makes gains in the 9th count in Letterkenny.
Both the sitting councillor and the Aontú candidate received 21 votes from Thoiba Ahmed's 544 distributed vote in the 8th count, bringing Coyle up to 1,017 votes against Sweeney's 916.
Following the 9th count, Sweeney is now within 116 votes of Coyle with 950 votes and 1,066 votes respectively.
Coyle received no transfers in the 5th count, allowing Sweeney to gain on him after receiving 60 in the same count.
Only one councillor in Letterkenny LEA has been elected so far; Donal 'Mandy' Kelly was elected on the first count with a tally of 1,841, comfortably surpassing the quota of 1,629.
Six seats are still up for grabs, with Tomás Sean Devine currently in the lead following the 9th count, edging ahead of sitting councillor Ciaran Brogan with 1,620 and 1563 votes respectively.
Devine, who is part of the 100% Redress party, is just 9 votes off the quota and expected to be elected on the 10th count ahead of Brogan.
Jimmy Kavanagh has amassed 1,473 votes after the 9th count, putting him in 3rd position.
Meanwhile, sitting councillors Michael McBride and Gerry McMonagle are slowly but steadily inching forwards with 1,335 votes and 1,208 votes respectively.
Five of the six seats left are now most likely to be filled by Devine, Brogan, Kavanagh, McBride and McMonagle, with the final sixth seat expected to be won by Coyle or Sweeney.