#Elections2019: Row was brewing over ‘cold storage’ Brexit seat

Just as counting was slowly edging to the finish line in the European Parliament Dublin constituency election on Monday night, whispers of a row started to filter through the RDS. Candidates disagreed over the counting of transfers from eliminated opponents. Close to midnight, the count was suspended. Lawyers arrived and counting staff were sent home.

The dispute was between Independents4Change’s Clare Daly and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews who were battling it out for the final two MEP seats in the four-seater. Both were still thousands of votes off reaching 72,790, the quota needed to be elected. However, neither wanted to end up in fourth place, the so-called cold storage Brexit seat.