Ireland’s presidential election was a resounding victory for the Left. Catherine Connolly, a left-wing independent backed by parties representing every shade of Irish left politics, from pale pink and light green to deep red, won 63.4 percent of the vote. This was more than twice the level of support for her main opponent, Heather Humphreys of the center-right Fine Gael party.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael’s traditional rival and now coalition partner, also had a candidate on the ballot paper, Jim Gavin (although Gavin called off his hapless campaign before reaching the finishing line). The combined vote share for Humphreys and Gavin was less than 37 percent — a truly woeful performance for the parties that dominated Irish politics before the crash of 2008.
The Irish presidency is not an executive role with serious heft: an outspoken president can have a real impact on the terms of public debate, but they do not have the power to carry out reforms or decide upon government policy. While we shouldn’t lose sight of those limitations, it’s clear that Connolly’s triumph at the polls is an important advance for the Irish left that will put its forces in a stronger position for the years to come.
Before going into the dynamics of the campaign, we need to discuss the turnout for the election and the number of spoiled votes, both of which have been used by some commentators in recent days to belittle the significance of Connolly’s achievement. Less than half of those eligible cast a vote in the election, and nearly 13 percent of those votes were spoiled. The turnout figure was by no means unusual, but the rate of spoilage was.
Connolly’s triumph at the polls is an important advance for the Irish left that will put its forces in a stronger position for the years to come.
There have been five contested elections for the presidency since the modern history of the office began with the victory of Mary Robinson, a liberal feminist, over candidates from Fianna Fáil…
Auteur: Daniel Finn
