.png)
4 hours ago
3
With four days until Ireland’s presidential election there are growing fears that a lacklustre campaign will prompt many people to spoil their vote or boycott the ballot.
Opinion polls give Catherine Connolly, an independent leftwing candidate, a wide lead over Heather Humphreys, who represents the ruling centre-right establishment. However, they also show frustration and disillusionment about their campaigns.
Almost half of voters say they do not feel represented by either candidate, fuelling concern at a possible low turnout and high rate of spoilt ballots on 24 October.
“It has been a relatively dull campaign and there is quite a bit of frustration with the number of candidates,” said Prof Kevin Rafter, a political scientist and the co-author of The Irish Presidency: Power, Ceremony and Politics.
“The campaign has been disappointing in the lack of intellectual oomph and ambition. It hasn’t inspired voters. Neither candidate has really identified a particular theme. Of the big ticket items in Irish society – for instance housing, race, climate change, unification – they have had very little interesting things to say.”
A roster of potential celebrity candidates – including the musician Bob Geldof, the dancer Michael Flatley and the former mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor – had prompted curiosity, derision and dread but none received backing from four local councils, or 20 legislators, necessary for nomination.
Maria Steen, a social conservative, and Gareth Sheridan, an entrepreneur, came closer to nomination but also fell short, leaving just Connolly, who is backed by opposition leftwing parties, Humphreys, who is running for Fine Gael, and Jim Gavin, who was selected for Fianna Fáil.
The taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, had hoped that running a legendary Gaelic football coach and political newbie would electrify voters but gaffes and a financial scandal forced Gavin to withdraw, leaving a two-horse race – the smallest field in 35 years – to succeed President Michael D Higgins.
An Irish Times poll on 16 October gave Connolly 38%, Humphreys 20% and Gavin, whose name remains on the ballot, 5%. The poll also suggested 18% of voters were undecided, 12% would not vote and 6% would spoil their vote. Almost half, 49%, said they did not feel represented by any candidate.
Connolly, 68, a veteran leftwing activist and member of parliament from Galway, has enthused young voters through podcasts and social media but detractors accuse her of cloaking hostility towards the EU and dodging difficult questions, including in relation to a 2018 fact-finding trip to Syria.
Humphreys, 62, a Presbyterian and former cabinet minister from the border county of Monaghan, has promised to be a unifying figure whose Protestant heritage could help win over Northern Ireland’s unionists. But critics say she is anodyne and reflects fatigue with a party that has been in power since 2011.
“This campaign is increasingly becoming a referendum on the incumbent government,” said Prof Gail McElroy, a political scientist at Trinity College Dublin. “It’s common in European and local elections – people use them as an opportunity for a protest vote.”
after newsletter promotion
The presidency is a largely symbolic office, which used to be a sinecure for retired cabinet ministers, but Mary Robinson’s insurgent victory over more mainstream candidates in 1990 ushered in an era of more visible and vocal heads of state.
“Robinson’s presidency was a watershed. She wasn’t particularly ideological in the role but she had a much higher profile than her predecessors and was seen as a beacon of modern Ireland. It is seen as a unifying role,” said McElroy.
Mary McAleese and Higgins, who both served two seven-year terms, continued that tradition and enjoyed high popularity.
However the path to Áras an Uachtaráin, the presidential residence in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, subjects candidates to intense scrutiny and attacks on their records.
The Humphreys campaign has said that Connolly, while working as a barrister, represented banks in home repossession cases. Connolly’s backers said her opponents were resorting to “Trumpian attack videos” and setting a “new low” in Irish politics.
