Luke 'Ming' Flanagan tops the poll in Midlands-North-West

Incumbent's 78,214 votes are some 35k votes shy of the quota, and he is closely followed by FF’s Barry Cowen on 73,908

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is in the lead in the Midlands-North-West European election constituency, but is closely followed by Barry Cowen, Nina Carberry, and Maria Walsh all of whom polled 70,000-plus.

Incumbent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has topped the poll following the first count in the Midlands-North-West constituency, garnering 78,214 first preference votes.

Mr Flanagan did not reach the quota, which stands at 113,325, after two marathon days of counting at the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar.