Landslide win for Catherine Connolly as she's announced the 10th President of Ireland
Catherine Connolly smiles as she arrives at Dublin Castle(Image: PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)It's a landslide win for Catherine Connolly as she has been officially announced the 10th President of Ireland. The Independent candidate was victorious as the result was announced in Dublin Castle this evening.Ms Connolly received 63.4 per cent amount of the vote, Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys got 29.5 per cent and Fianna Fáil's Jim Gavin - who stepped down from campaigning but was still on the ballot - received 7.2 per cent.If Mr Gavin got over 12.5 per cent of the vote, Fianna Fáil could have received up to €250,000 back on campaign expenses. It's a massive victory for the left, as Ms Connolly was backed by Sinn Féin, Labour, The Social Democrats, The Green Party and People Before Profit.Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald described Catherine Connolly's victory in the Irish presidential election as "stunning". Speaking at Dublin Castle, Ms McDonald said: "Today is a stunning victory for optimism and hope over cynicism and negativity."It is a victory for the combined opposition over the jaded worn-out politics of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. I said some time ago, I spoke of a game-changer."I think the game changed and it is now going to be our job in active frontline politics to build on the momentum, the hope, the energy that this campaign has generated."Ireland's Catherine Connolly, an independent left-winger, was poised Saturday to become the country's new president after her only rival in the election conceded defeat(Image: PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)Between Ms Connolly’s landslide and the significant number of spoiled votes, it’s been deemed an embarrassing election for Fine Gael. Tánaiste Simon Harris said it’s his “gut reaction” to call for a referendum on how candidates get on the presidential ballot paper after a historic number of spoiled votes.Speaking in Dublin Castle, the Fine Gael leader refused to admit that his party had a bad campaign, but said he is open to discussions about the nomination process.He said: “Roughly 70% of people decided to sit out the election or went to the effort of turning up to a polling station and spoiling their ballot. I think every political leader, Government and opposition, needs to approach this with humility.“The turnout is always much lower in a presidential election. This is the first time there has been a campaign to spoil your vote, and it has been quite an organised campaign. People were encouraged if they didn’t know who to vote for to come out and spoil their vote.“A lot of people went to a lot of effort, ignoring people who wrote expletives or horrific things, a lot of people didn’t do that and wrote their thoughts and views, some even attached letters to their ballot paper.”Catherine Connolly smiles as she arrives at Dublin Castle, after being declared the winner in the Presidential election to become the next President of Ireland in Dublin (Image: PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)Speaking about a possible referendum on the presidential nomination process, Mr Harris said: “There has to be some threshold to get on the ballot. A legitimate question to ask is is the current structure right and I have heard different ideas from different people.“Is it right you have to get a certain amount of councils or would it be better to get councillors? The rules around nominations were drawn up in a different time, a different Ireland. So I would be open to engaging on that but it would have to be something that isn’t a Government initiative but involves a broader opposition and government pirates about how to do this.”For more of the latest breaking news from the Irish Mirror check out our homepage by clicking here
