Count in Ireland South indicates exit polls were not accurate

Counting has resumed for a second day in the Ireland South constituency where it now appears that exit polls were not accurate.

While a result for the first count is not expected until mid-afternoon, it is now looking more likely that Sean Kelly will do better than the 16% exit polls put him on and will be the first elected MEP.

Independents 4 Change candidate Mick Wallace also appears to have gained more votes than the exit poll indicated.

However, Sinn Féin's Liadh Ní Riada and the Green Party senator Grace O'Sullivan could come in closer to 10% rather than the 13% they had both been put on in RTE's exit poll.

Exit Poll @rtenews @NuachtTG4 #EP2019 https://t.co/qXuxtuHvLE pic.twitter.com/9nxmPdmk2z

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 24, 2019

The task of adjudicating 40,000 spoilt votes got underway at 11am and took around an hour to go through.

But around 25,000 of these ballots were completely blank and it appears as if people chose not to vote at all in the European South elections at all.

If Mr Kelly is elected in the first round with a surplus, his second preference votes will then be distributed, which will slow down the count but could also benefit fellow Fine Gael candidates Deirdre Clune and Andrew Doyle.

However, due to the extended ballot paper which listed 23 candidates, counters have yet to get started on many of the first preference counts for individual candidates.