Burton wins deputy leader position with 60% turnout

THE Labour Party’s Joan Burton was last night elected to the position of deputy leader following a month-long election campaign that separated the two contenders by 204 votes.

The Dublin West TD was elected with 1,470 first preference votes, 204 votes ahead of Limerick East’s Jan O’Sullivan.

However, the 59.3% voter turnout compares dismally with the 88.2% turnout in the leadership contest in 2002 that saw Pat Rabbitte elected as leader and Liz Mc Manus as deputy leader.