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Hard-left candidate Catherine Connolly was declared Ireland’s president on Saturday after a resounding victory in which she clinched more than twice the support of her centre-right rival.
The independent legislator won 63.4 per cent — the highest share since the office was created in 1938 — compared with just 29.5 per cent for former centre-right minister Heather Humphreys.
In her first remarks as president-elect, Connolly vowed to be a president for all, including the 13 per cent of voters who spoiled their ballots. The office is a largely figurehead role.
“I will be a president who listens, who reflects and who speaks when it is necessary, and a voice for peace, a voice that builds on our policy of neutrality, a voice that articulates the existential threat posed by climate change,” she said as results were declared at Dublin Castle.
“We can shape a new republic together . . . that values everybody, that values and champions diversity, that takes confidence in our own identity, our Irish language, our English language and the new people who have come to our country. I will be an inclusive president for all of you.”
Humphreys and her Fine Gael leader Simon Harris congratulated her rival, as did Taoiseach Micheál Martin of the centrist Fianna Fáil, which governs in coalition with the centre-right party.
The ballot was marked by relatively low turnout and anger at the small number of candidates on offer. Many damaged votes bore scrawls such as “not my president” or “none of the above”.
Connolly, 68, who was backed by the opposition Sinn Féin and other left-wing parties, has hailed the “movement” behind her. Outgoing president Michael D Higgins congratulated her by telephone on a “momentous day for her and her family”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald called it a “stunning victory for optimism and hope over cynicism and negativity”.
With her patient demeanour and serene smile, Connolly, a fluent Irish speaker who grew up in a council house with 13 siblings and lost her mother at the age of nine, was criticised for views some considered extreme.
Connolly, who is staunchly pro-Palestinian and a defender of Ireland’s neutrality, blasted the EU for its military build-up in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it had lost its “moral compass”. She added that German rearmament spending was reminiscent of the 1930s.
The former barrister and clinical psychologist also branded the US, UK and France untrustworthy over their stance on Gaza.
While left-wing parties celebrated Connolly and their unprecedented joint backing for her, analysts said it was premature to say her victory marked the birth of a united left or that it could be replicated in a general election.
But the humbling of Humphreys’ Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, will serve a stark warning to the government.
Many voters appeared to have been particularly turned off by a Fine Gael video that attacked Connolly by questioning her judgment in representing banks as a barrister during the financial crisis at a time when homes were being repossessed.
The party had also focused on her decision to hire a dissident Republican with a gun conviction to work in her parliamentary office.
Fianna Fáil’s candidate, Jim Gavin, withdrew because of a scandal over his failure to repay money to a tenant 16 years ago. But his name remained on the ballot and he secured 7 per cent of the vote.
Connolly, a mother of two who served as deputy speaker of Ireland’s lower house of parliament, the Dáil, reeled in young voters with podcasts and a savvy social media campaign displaying football skills, rollerblading and her budding piano playing.
She will be inaugurated as Ireland’s 10th president on November 11.
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