Doherty leading in Donegal SW tallies

Counting is underway in the by-election in Donegal South West, with Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty apparently on course to take the seat.

Officials say that between 53% and 55% of voters turned out to cast their vote yesterday.

Counting got underway just after 9am today in the Finn Valley Athletic Centre in Stranorlar. There are 68 counting staff.

Early tallies show Doherty, who forced the Government to hold the by-election, has performed well, with 39% of the votes so far with 38.69% of votes counted.

The seat was vacated by the Pat the Cope Gallagher in June 2009.

On arriving at the count this morning, he was quietly confident: "The fact that I had to take it to court (means) that having the by-election at all is a victory…We're looking forward to the outcome, and hopefully by this evening I'll be elected as TD," he said.

With 38.69 % of the boxes counted, the votes are falling like this:

39% Pearse Doherty

21.3% Barry O' Neill

20.3% Brian O' Domhnaill

10.5% Frank Mc Brearty

10.1% Thomas Pringle