Labour begins process of selecting new leader after Alan Kelly's resignation

Alan Kelly, who announced his intention to resign as Labour party leader. File Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Nominations for a new leader for Labour will close on March 24, with polling ending on April 22.

The dates were announced following a joint meeting of the Labour Party Executive Board and Parliamentary Party.

However, if there is only one nominee, that person will be automatically deemed elected on March 24.

It was also confirmed that Alan Kelly, who emotionally announced he was standing down from the position on Wednesday, would continue as acting leader until his successor is elected.

Ivana Bacik has emerged as favourite to become Labour leader. File Picture: Gareth Chaney /Collins Photos

In an interview on Tipp FM on Friday, Mr Kelly backed Ivana Bacik to replace him.

“Ivana is incredible, she was fighting issues before they became fashionable. She deserves her chance, so let's give it to her,” Deputy Kelly said.

On Thursday, TDs Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Duncan Smith confirmed neither of them would be contesting the leadership.

In his interview on Tipp FM, Mr Kelly said there were three main reasons for his decision to resign. This included a difficulty in doing opposition politics during the past two years because of the focus on Covid-19; Labour’s stagnation in recent opinion polls, and his belief that it was time to move on from the period he was in government between 2011 and 2016.

In his resignation statement on Wednesday evening, Mr Kelly said he was told by his parliamentary party colleagues on Tuesday morning that they had lost confidence in his leadership. He also said that the day he became leader of the party in April 2020 was the best political day of his life.

A party statement said: “Only TDs are eligible. A candidate may be nominated by either at least two Oireachtas members of the Parliamentary Party, or at least five constituency councils whose members constitute at least 10% of the constituency membership of the Party. TDs will now be sent a nomination form by the General Secretary for PLP nominations.” 

The vote will be by postal ballot.