Presidential election in Ireland

In the presidential election in Ireland the head of state of the Republic of Ireland , the President of Ireland , is elected.

The President of Ireland is elected every seven years by the citizens of the Republic; in the event of an early departure, the election must take place within 60 days. During this time the Presidential Commission takes over the duties of the President; she is also the representative of the President. The election takes place secretly according to the instant runoff voting system. While both Irish and British citizens who have permanent residence in Ireland can vote in elections for Dáil Éireann , only Irish citizens who are at least 18 years of age can vote in presidential elections.

Any citizen who is at least 35 years old can stand for election, provided that they are

• of twenty members of the national parliament ( Oireachtas ) or
• nominated by four of Ireland's counties.

Incumbent and former incumbents can also stand for candidates without nomination.

If only one candidate is up for election, he is automatically (without actual voting) elected. A president can hold office for a maximum of two terms.

Overview of the presidential elections from 1938 to the present day

choice	More candidates	president	nominated by
1938	no	Douglas Hyde	Fine Gael , Fianna Fáil
1945	Sean MacEoin (Fine Gael) Patrick MacCartan (Independent)	Sean T. O'Kelly	Fianna Fáil
1952	no	Sean T. O'Kelly	Self-nomination
1959	Sean MacEoin (Fine Gael)	Eamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil
1966	Tom O'Higgins (Fine Gael)	Eamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil
1973	Tom O'Higgins (Fine Gael)	Erskine Hamilton Childers	Fianna Fáil
1974	no	Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh	Fianna Fáil , Fine Gael , Labor Party
1976	no	Patrick Hillery	Fianna Fáil
1983	no	Patrick Hillery	Self-nomination
1990	Brian Lenihan (Fianna Fáil) Austin Currie (Fine Gael)	Mary Robinson	Labor Party
1997	Mary Banotti (Fine Gael) Adi Roche (Labor) Dana Rosemary Scallon (Independent) Derek Nally (Independent)	Mary McAleese	Fianna Fáil
2004	no	Mary McAleese	Self-nomination
2011	Mary Davis (non-party) Seán Gallagher ( non- party) Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) Gay Mitcdunkel (Fine Gael) David Norris ( non- party) Dana Rosemary Scallon (non-party)	Michael D. Higgins	Labor Party
2018	Peter Joseph Casey (independent) Gavin Duffy (independent) Joan Freeman (independent) Seán Gallagher (independent) Liadh Ní Riada (Sinn Féin)	Michael D. Higgins	Self-nomination

The elections in detail

1938

The 1938 presidential election was the first in Ireland to fill the newly created office of President. After negotiations between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael , the former independent senator and founder of the Gaelic League Douglas Hyde was nominated. Attempts by the long-time mayor of Dublin , Alfred Byrne , to also be nominated failed because of the necessary support. Hyde was therefore "elected" with no opponent. He took office in June 1938.

1945

In 1945 the first “actual” election of a president took place. After the decision of the first President Douglas Hyde not to run for re-election, the Fianna Fáil party nominated its leader, the Tánaiste Sean T. O'Kelly, as its candidate. Independent Republican Patrick MacCartan initially failed to get the required 4 votes. Expecting this failure, the opposition Fine Gael party decided at the last moment to put up its own candidate: General Seán Mac Eoin . But in the end MacCartan still managed to get the 20 votes of the Oireachtas , so that the presidential election unexpectedly contained three candidates.

As expected, O'Kelly won the election, but only after the second round of voting (see instant runoff voting ). The fact that O'Kelly did not manage this in the first round already reflected the growing opposition to Eamon de Valera's government and showed the potential for cooperation between various opposition parties. De Valera's government was defeated in the 1948 election and replaced by a multi-party government.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Sean T. O'Kelly	Fianna Fáil	537.965	49.52%
	Seán Mac Eoin	Fine Gael	335,539	30.89%
	Patrick MacCartan	independently	212,834	19.59%

1952

In the 1952 election, the first since the Republic of Ireland was founded in 1949, incumbent President Sean T. O'Kelly chose to run for a second term. Neither party put up an opponent, only the satirist Eoin (the Pope) O'Mahony tried to meet the nomination criteria and failed. So O'Kelly automatically became president again.

1959

In the 1959 election, the founder and long-time leader of the Fianna Fáil party , the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera , decided (with pressure from his party members) to leave active party politics and apply for the presidency. The opposition Fine Gael party put their defeated 1945 candidate, General Seán Mac Eoin , back into the running. As expected, de Valera won.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Eamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	538.003	56.30%
	Seán Mac Eoin	Fine Gael	417,536	43.70%

1966

In 1966 Eamon de Valera decided reluctantly, but under pressure from his party to run for a second term. This time the opposition chose one of their younger MPs: Tom O'Higgins . In an astonishingly close election, the challenger only missed the win by 1% or just under 10,000 votes. De Valera later blamed this narrow result on his campaign manager Charles Haughey .

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Eamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	558.861	50.48%
	Thomas F. O'Higgins	Fine Gael	548.144	49.52%

1973

Since Eamon de Valera was constitutionally not allowed to run for a third term, the former Tánaiste Frank Aiken should run first , but he declined. Under pressure from his party, Erskine Hamilton Childers ran . The favorite in the election was Tom O'Higgins , the Fine Gael candidate who lost just 1% in the last election. But Childers surprisingly won this election.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Erskine Hamilton Childers	Fianna Fáil	635,867	51.97%
	Thomas F. O'Higgins	Fine Gael	587.771	48.03%

1974

The sudden death of President Erskine Hamilton Childers made a presidential election necessary in 1974. Originally, all parties secretly agreed to nominate President Rita Childer's widow , but before that was announced, and before that was even communicated to her, a misunderstanding led to the collapse of that agreement. The half-deaf Fine Gael Minister Tom O'Donnell misunderstood a journalist's question about the alleged nomination of Mrs. Childers. He thought the journalist already knew about the nomination and confirmed that Rita Childers would become the new President of Ireland. The opposition, who believed that the government had orchestrated the mess and wanted to take political advantage of it, withdrew from the deal.

Instead, Fianna Fáil proposed the candidate Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh , a former President of the Supreme Court and Minister of Justice under Eamon de Valera . All parties agreed, so that Ó Dálaigh was declared the new president without an election. It was only when he was inaugurated that Jack Lynch , Fianna Fáil's leader, happened to find out during a conversation that the confusion surrounding Mrs. Childers was indeed a misunderstanding.

1976

The 1976 election was made necessary by the sudden resignation of President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh in October. Ó Dálaigh resigned after Defense Secretary Paddy Donegan called the President a " thundering disgrace " and labeled him disloyal to the state. ^a

The Fianna Fáil leader Jack Lynch proposed as a candidate Patrick Hillery , former Irish Foreign Secretary. Charles J. Haughey , a critic of Hillery, suggested Donegal MP Joe Brennan, but Hillery easily won the internal vote.

The governing parties Fine Gael and Irish Labor Party could have run an opponent, but decided against the events surrounding the resignation of Ó Dálaigh, so that Patrick Hillery was declared 6th President. He took office on December 3, 1976.

1983

In 1983, after enormous political pressure, current President Patrick Hillery agreed to run for another term. Although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize , Seán MacBride , complained in the Sunday Press that he also wanted to run for office, only Hillery was nominated, so that he was again president without actual election.

1990

In the 1990 election, the Irish Labor Party announced that it would run a candidate for the first time. The choice fell on Mary Robinson , a former Senator and Liberal advocate u. a. access to contraception . For Fianna Fáil , the then Tánaiste (Vice Prime Minister) Brian Lenihan senior stood up , who prevailed against John P. Wilson within the party. After the former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and the former Tánaiste Peter Barry refused to run, Fine Gael sent the new MP and former Socialist Minister in Northern Ireland , Austin Currie , into the running.

Brian Lenihan was considered a favorite before the election, as no Fianna Fáil candidate had ever lost a presidential election. But Lenihan fell into the twilight when he admitted in an interview with freelance journalist Jim Duffy that he was involved in attempts to pressure President Patrick Hillery during the disputed dissolution of parliament in 1982 . When this earlier interview (from May 1982) surfaced after his public pledges of innocence, he was dismissed from the government under pressure from his coalition partner during the election campaign.

In the first ballot (see instant run-off voting ), Mary Robinson relegated the candidate Austin Currie to third place and then surprisingly achieved victory after the second votes had been split.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent	with second votes
	Mary Robinson	Irish Labor Party	612.265	38.88%	817.830
	Brian Lenihan Sr.	Fianna Fáil	694.484	44.10%	731.273
	Austin Currie	Fine Gael	267.902	17.02%

1997

The 11th presidential election took place on October 30, 1997 . So far, most of the candidates have run this election; 5 nominees, 4 of whom were women. The candidates in detail:

Mary McAleese : Mary McAleese was Fianna Fáil's candidate , although she had not been the favorite in the party elimination beforehand. In addition to her, the former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Michael O'Kennedy , a former minister, ran. In the first round, Reynolds won 49 votes, McAleese 42 and O'Kennedy 21. In the crucial round, McAleese won 62 to 48 votes.

Mary Banotti : The Fine Gael candidate was Mary Banotti , a great-niece of Michael Collins and sister of MP leader Nora Owen . She was considered an excellent choice and narrowly beat Avril Doyle in the party elimination .

Adi Roche : Adi Roche competed for the Labor Party , Democratic Left and Green Party . As a charity worker and human rights advocate, Roche was a good choice for the parties involved.

Dana Rosemary Scallon : Dana Rosemary Scallon was nominated by 5 district congregations and was therefore also entitled to participate in the election, even if this type of nomination was used for the first time. Scallon was the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest winner and was primarily a champion of family values.

Derek Nally : Fifth in the league was the only male candidate Derek Nally . He was a former police officer and a campaigner for the rights of victims - he also received nominations from 5 district parishes.

The election had to take place that year , as incumbent President Mary Robinson had already been in office for seven years, but was brought forward due to her resignation - Robinson resigned to take up a position as High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations . Before the election, Adi Roche was considered a possible winner, but she ran into trouble and her campaign ended before it began when she was accused of bullying her employees. Banotti had a solid campaign, while Dana surprised everyone with her demeanor and campaign. Derek Nally's appearance was influenced by internal election problems.

The turnout was very low with only 1,279,688 voters (48%). McAleese surprisingly won the election clearly ahead of Banotti, while Dana also surprisingly relegated Roche to a shameful fourth place.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Mary McAleese	Fianna Fáil	574,424	45.24%
	Mary Banotti	Fine Gael	372.002	29.30%
	Dana Rosemary Scallon	Independently	175,458	13.82%
	Adi Roche	Independently	88,423	6.95%
	Derek Nally	Independently	59,529	4.69%

2004

The 2004 presidential election was scheduled for October 22, 2004, but when the October 1 deadline was up for nominations, Mary McAleese, who had nominated herself as incumbent president, was the only candidate. McAleese was elected for a second seven-year term without a vote. This was the case for the third time after Sean T. O'Kelly ( 1952 ) and Patrick Hillery ( 1983 ).

2011

The 12th presidential election took place on October 27, 2011. The incumbent President Mary McAleese could not run again after two seven-year terms. Seven candidates applied for her successor, more than ever before. The candidacy of the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland , Martin McGuinness, attracted international attention . The election was also the first presidential election since the financial crisis and the resulting dramatic shifts in the majority in the Irish Parliament.

Labor politician Michael D. Higgins won the election in the fourth round of the count with 1,007,104 votes (61.6 percent) against the only remaining candidate, Seán Gallagher (628,114 votes). Higgins had also led well ahead of Gallagher in all previous counting rounds. The turnout was 56.1 percent.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Mary Davis	Independently	48,657	2.7
	Seán Gallagher	Independent (former member of Fianna Fáil )	504.964	28.5
	Michael D. Higgins	Labor	701.101	39.6
	Martin McGuinness	Sinn Féin	243.030	13.7
	Gay Mitchell	Fine Gael	113,321	6.4
	David Norris	Independently	109,469	6.2
	Dana Rosemary Scallon	Independently	51,220	2.9

2018

The 13th presidential election took place on October 26, 2018 , together with the referendum on the 37th Amendment . In addition to the incumbent President Michael D. Higgins, five other candidates ran for election; Of the relevant political parties in Ireland, however, only Sinn Féin nominated one candidate; all others supported Higgins' candidacy or waived. Peter Joseph Casey, Gavin Duffy and Seán Gallagher were three businessmen who had appeared in the Irish version of Dragons' Den .

Higgins was able to prevail in the first counting round. The turnout was 43.9 percent.

candidate		Political party	First votes	percent
	Peter Joseph Casey	Independently	342,727	23.3
	Gavin Duffy	Independently	32,198	2.2
	Joan Freeman	Independently	87.908	6.0
	Seán Gallagher	Independently	94,514	6.4
	Michael D. Higgins	Independent (member of the Labor Party until the presidency , also supported by Fine Gael , Fianna Fáil , Social Democrats and Green Party )	822,566	55.8
	Liadh Ní Riada	Sinn Féin	93,987	6.4

annotation

^aIt was assumed at that time, even from Ó Dálaigh that the actual words "fucking bollocks and a thundering disgrace" (translated as complete nonsense and a colossal shame were) and that the published version was played down by the media. However, the only journalist present at the incident, a correspondent for the Cork Examiner , insisted that only the published words be used and no others. More serious was Donegan's statement that "the army must stand behind the state" - a phrase which the president understood to mean that as the army commander he did not. Donegan, an alcoholic, is said to have been drunk at the time of the testimony, according to his party colleagues. He has been treated and demoted to a lower post for his problems.

Web links

• President of Ireland - official site (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ John Whelan: Minister Murphy makes Presidential Election Order . In: Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government . August 28, 2018 ( gov.ie [accessed October 26, 2018]).
2. ↑ Arthur Beesley: Higgins re-elected as Ireland's president. In: Financial Times (online). October 27, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Presidential Election 2018/2018 Results: Overall Candidate Votes Throughout Counts. Presidential Returning Officer, October 27, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Kevin Doyle: Parties backing Higgins told to not use his image. In: Irish Independent (online). October 18, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .