Key points
- Conservative figures urge voters to spoil ballots
- Connolly gains popularity with younger voters
- Humphreys campaigns as a unifying figure
DUBLIN: Ireland voted to elect a new president, with left-wing independent Catherine Connolly expected to beat her challenger in an election critics say failed to offer a real choice, hitting turnout.
Conservative figures urged voters to spoil their ballots in protest at the lack of right-wing options in the contest, which pitted Connolly against centrist Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, reports AFP.
A slew of celebrities also considered running — including mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor, singer Bob Geldof and dancer Michael Flatley.
The winner will succeed 84-year-old Michael Higgins, who has held the post since 2011.
Polls closed at 10:00 p.m., with a result expected late Saturday.
More than 3.6 million people were eligible to vote.
Turnout in 2018 was 44 percent, but it may be lower this time with many areas posting below 40 percent. Just 38 percent of the electorate voted in Dublin city, according to area statistics.
Official figure
An official figure will not be known until Saturday.
Experts forecast a low overall turnout this time because of frustration with the choice of just two candidates — a recent poll suggested 49 percent of voters did not feel represented by either of them.
Overwhelming favorite Connolly, 68, arrived by bicycle and was greeted by well-wishers before voting at a primary school in Claddagh in the west coast city of Galway.
“I had a swim this morning, that sort of calmed me down,” she told reporters.
Connolly, a lawmaker since 2016 and supported by left-wing parties including Sinn Fein, has surged ahead in opinion polls in recent weeks.
The lawyer, a critic of the United States and European Union, boosted her profile with younger voters during the campaign by appearing on popular podcasts and going viral with a video showing off her football skills.
Ireland’s governing coalition
“She’s quite inspirational, actually,” said Galway resident Orla Craven, 35, of Connolly.
“She speaks the truth, and the truth has been missing in Ireland for a long time,” said Dominic Burke, 73, a retired fireman, another Connolly supporter.
Her rival Humphreys, also in her 60s and a former cabinet minister from Ireland’s Protestant minority, has campaigned as a unifying figure.
A third candidate, Jim Gavin, representing the centrist Fianna Fail — the larger party in Ireland’s governing coalition with Fine Gael — remained on ballot papers because he only quit the race earlier this month.
A former military pilot and pick of Taoiseach Micheal Martin, he eventually withdrew after a previous tenant in a property he owned said Gavin owed him thousands of euros in a debt dating to 2009.
