Byelections 2019: Sinn Féin's Mark Ward elected to Dáil Dublin Mid-West
Sinn Féin candidate Mark Ward has been elected to the Dáil following the Dublin Mid-West by-election.
The candidate topped the poll in the constituency, which saw a record low turnout of just 26.58%.
He received 24% of the first preference vote, but was 5,000 short of the quota - meaning transfers were crucial in determining the fate of former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald's vacant Dáil seat.
Speaking in the past few minutes, Mark Ward says voters sent a message to the Government.
He said: Workers and families need a break.
"They're sick to their back teeth of austerity politics, of waiting lists in hospitals, people waiting for housing, for people being cut to the collar with high rents, stuck in gridlock on transport.
"We knew this message very early on, nobody really gave us a chance but we knew from the people that we were talking to that we had a great chance."
The distribution of Tuffy's 1,775 votes in the sixth count helped Independent Gogarty rise to 3,731 and Higgins to reach 4,362.
But Sinn Fein's Mark Ward is still in the lead with 5,616 votes.
Fianna Fail's Shane Moynihan remains in fourth place.
Independent Francis Timmons has now been eliminated and his 1,929 votes will be distributed as part of the seventh count.
The distribution of Solidarity-PBP's Sweeney's 1,281 votes in the fourth count further strengthened the lead for Sinn Féin's Mark Ward in the race.
She transferred some 416 votes to the Sinn Féin councillor, pushing up his tally to 5,228.
Another 180 votes went to Independent Timmons, 105 went to Labour's Tuffy and 34 went to Fianna Fáil's Moynihan.
Attention is expected to focus on the transfers of Tuffy and how the Labour councillor's transfers are distributed among Fine Gael and Gogarty.
The leaders in the Dublin Mid West by-election count remain the same after the third count and distribution of McNally's 845 votes.
Sinn Féin's Ward remains on top followed by Fine Gael's Higgins and then Independent Gogarty.
The main bulk of McNally's votes were distributed to Solidarity-PBP's Kellie Sweeney (+143), Independent Paul Gogarty (+133), Greens Peter Kavanagh (+125), Labour's Joanna Tuffy (+109) and Fine Gael's Emer Higgins (+100).
Sweeney has now been eliminated and her overall votes of 1,281 will be distributed for the fourth count.
Sinn Féin's Mark Ward is in the lead after the first count in Dublin Mid West, but transfers will be key to deciding if he will be overtaken.
Fine Gael's Emer Higgins is over 1,000 votes behind Ward's lead tally of 4,622.
In third place, Independent Paul Gogarty is hoping to capitalise on transfers to boost his first-preference vote of 2,435.
It has also emerged that Dublin Mid West has had the lowest turnout in the history of elections with just 26.6% of eligible voters going to the ballot boxes yesterday.
The overall electorate was 73,122 but, after 210 spoilt votes, there were just 19,237 valid votes for the by-election here. The quota is 9,619.
Other candidates at the top after the first count include Fianna Fáil's Shane Moynihan on 2,264.
First count just out for Dublin Mid West #iestaff @DMW19 #Dail pic.twitter.com/Ggu2wX3Wy1
— Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) November 30, 2019
Nonetheless, he has conceded defeat and told the Irish Examiner that the overall result in the constituency represented “a rejection of the government”.
He also believes that the Sinn Féin candidate will stay on top and win.
Independent Francis Timmons came in fifth place with 1,299 votes, followed by Labour's Joanna Tuffy on 1,294 and the Greens Peter Kavanagh on 1,222.
Returning officer Fergus Gallagher, after the first count, announced that he would eliminate the lowest of the 13 candidates.
These include Independent Peter Madden, Independent Charlie Keddie, Independents4Change Ruth Nolan and Workers Party David Gardner.
Attention during the remaining counts will centre on whether Gogarty can make up the distance with transfers from Labour and other Independents or whether Higgins's position will improve from any transfers when Shane Moynihan is eliminated.
The transfer of the votes of Madden, Keddie, Nolan and Gardner, a cumulative 754, raised the positions of Sweeney (+155), Gogarty (+122), Ward (+107), Timmins (+66), McNally (+57), Kavanagh (+46), Moynihan (+40), Tuffy (+39) and Higgins (+27).
As the Social Democrats Anne-Marie McNally are the lowest, she has now been eliminated and her votes of 845 will be distributed for the third count.
Counting officers expect that there may be a result in Dublin Mid West by 6pm.
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