Irish President Re-elected for Second Term

Michael D Higgins is re-elected for a second term as President of the Republic of Ireland. After renominating for a second term of seven years (which he originally intended not to do), he was supported by three political parties but Sinn Fein decided to field a candidate thus triggering an election. In addition to Liadh Ni Riada, Member of the European Parliament representing Sinn Fein, there were four independent challengers, all supported by at least four Councils: a mental health advocate, Senator Joan Freeman, and three businessmen from the Irish version of Shark Tank, one a highly ranked challenger from the 2012 election and one from Northern Ireland but who had lived mostly in the USA. There were six debates, some on radio and some on television, but not all candidates (of the two women and four men) participated in all of them; Higgins spoke at three. The incumbent was criticised for his travel habits and expenses which may result in increased scrutiny of the salary and conditions for the job. Nearly all the candidates made promises to support certain causes or policies but these were mostly described as unfeasible or unconstitutional given the President’s role is largely ceremonial. Higgins is the first elected Irish president to face a re-election vote; Mary McAleese renominated unopposed in 2004 and served 14 years in the job. He won with 55.8 percent of first preference votes, over quota on the first count, from Peter Casey of Dragon’s Den who adopted Trump-like slogans including criticisms of Travellers and those who are welfare dependent. There were 1,492,338 valid votes cast, 44 percent of eligible voters (3,401,681), total population 4.7m; voting is voluntary.  At the same time, a referendum was held to remove the crime of blasphemy from the Constitution.  This passed with 71 percent support. It is striking that this successful and engaging direct election for the Head of State of a former British Dominion passed unnoticed in Australia, so our media made a poor job of that, but WfaAR notes that the vote occurred during the Sussex’s royal tour although on the actual day of the election, they were in Tonga.