An election to remember with four familiar Sligo-Leitrim faces to enter the 34th Dáil
The four seats in the constituency were filled just before 1am on December 3, with Eamon Scanlon and Marian Harkin securing the last two seats on count 13.
The Sligo-Leitrim-South Donegal constituency tends to be a rather predictable one. However, this time, unexpected twists and turns added an element of surprise to the race.
The biggest talking point of the election was the uncertain fate of Marian Harkin’s seat. Tallies painted a very worrying picture for Harkin, and her first preference votes saw a dramatic shift compared to 2020 - a 38 percent drop from her previous performance.
In a video interview with Leitrim Observer’s Marie Conboy, Harkin admitted she ‘didn’t think there was much hope,’ on the first night of counting, though her optimism improved on the second night.
The tide turned for Harkin when she gained 1,103 votes from Marie Casserly’s distribution, putting her fourth in the race in count nine. She continued to make gains on transfers in the following counts.
Despite facing one of the biggest uphill battles of her political career, Harkin’s persistence paid off as she secured the fourth and final seat in the constituency on count 13 without reaching the quota.
People on the ground at the count centre were referring to her as the ‘Lazarus’ of the race.
Independent Ireland candidate Michael Clarke showed a very strong performance throughout the election, but ended up in fifth place. Harkin overtook Clarke after count 11, benefitting from greater transfers.
In an interview with OceanFM, Clarke conceded to Harkin.
Another notable comeback was that of Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon, who filled the third seat in the constituency, also without reaching the quota. This marks Scanlon’s third time entering the Dáil, having previously served from 2007 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020 before losing his seat.
Emotional scenes unfolded as his family celebrated, hoisting him up after his election.
Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan led the way throughout and was the first to be elected when he exceeded the quota by 860 votes on the 11th count.
Martin Kenny was elected on the 12th count after comfortably exceeding the quota, receiving a hefty distribution of Chris MacManus’ votes.
Out of the 18 candidates in the election, there were five Sligo councillors, two Leitrim councillors, three outgoing TD’s, a former MEP, a former TD and six candidates with no public office.
In the end, four candidates emerged who are no strangers to the inside of Leinster House.
Frank Feighan, Martin Kenny, Eamon Scanlon and Marian Harkin will represent the Sligo-Leitrim-South Donegal constituency in the 34th Dáil.
The final number of votes for the four elected candidates were as follows: Frank Feighan - 12,241, Martin Kenny - 15,433, Eamon Scanlon - 10,285 and Marian Harkin - 10,168.