Politician to take two-vote defeat to Supreme Court
Former Fianna Fáil politician Dan Kiely, standing as an Independent, narrowly missed out on a county council seat in the Listowel, Co Kerry, electoral area.
In June, Mr Kiely failed in a petition to Tralee Circuit Court to have the municipal area vote declared invalid and to have a full recount. Judge Carroll Moran had dismissed the petition.
Mr Kiely’s legal team this week lodged papers with the registrar of the Supreme Court of a notice of intention to appeal the decision. Kerry County Council and the 14 elected candidates are being notified of the proposed action.
Mr Kiely, aged 71, from Doonard, Tarbert, had brought the petition in the circuit court against Kerry County Council under the Local Elections (Petitions and Disqualifications) Act 1974. He sought to have a recount that would include scrutiny of all questionable ballot papers.
Running as an Independent, he failed by just two votes to get a seat in the May elections, losing out to a Fine Gael candidate.
The issue of spoilt or questionable ballots was central to the petition, which took two full days. Mr Kiely claimed that the spoilt votes should have been put into the mix during a recount and his request to view these papers should have been met.
His petition was vigorously opposed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, represented by senior counsel. The council had also challenged the petition.
During the hearing, it emerged that returning officers had taken a decision to allow third, fourth, and fifth preferences into the count as first, second, and third preferences, marking them as such in pencil.
The returning officers said they were making allowances because a European election had been held on the same day and they did not wish to disenfranchise voters.
It is understood that the appeal will centre on the acceptance of fifth preferences, and the extent of returning officers’ discretion.
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