McAleese sweeps to biggest presidential election victory

The President-elect, Mrs Mary McAleese, hopes to be "a President for a new century and a new millennium" after the biggest victory by any presidential election candidate.

Speaking in Dublin Castle last night she promised to be a President for all the people - those who voted for her, for the other candidates, and those who didn't vote at all. She beat her nearest rival, Ms Mary Banotti, by 202,422 votes on the first count and 308,743 votes on the second, easily breaking the 120,467 margin recorded by the Éamon de Valera over Seán MacEoin in 1959.

Mrs McAleese, who was jointly nominated by the two Government parties, makes history by becoming the first Northern nationalist to be elected as Head of State. She will be inaugurated as President in Dublin Castle on Tuesday week, November 11th - Armistice Day. Asked at a press conference after her election if she would wear a poppy at her inauguration, she replied that it was an interesting suggestion which she would consider.

Her predecessor, Mrs Mary Robinson, last night offered her full support to Mrs McAleese "in every appropriate way". She looked forward, she said, to attending the inauguration.

The scale of Mrs McAleese's victory was immediately obvious from the first unofficial tallies. She won 45.24 per cent of the first preference vote. After the elimination of the three lowest-polling candidates, she achieved 58.7 per cent of the national vote on the second count, compared to Ms Banotti's 41.3 per cent. However, the 46.85 per cent turn-out was the lowest for a presidential election.

The Fine Gael candidate, Ms Banotti, won 29.3 per cent of the first-preference vote. Her defeat has already sparked internal criticism of Mr John Bruton's counterproductive intervention.

Dana Rosemary Scallon was the most successful loser. She was the first candidate to be nominated by county councils and came third with 13.82 per cent. She may now consider a future role in politics.

But the biggest loser was Ms Adi Roche, the Chernobyl children's campaigner nominated by Labour, Democratic Left and the Green Party, who secured only 6.96 per cent of first preferences. The announcement of the second count and declaration of Mrs McAleese's victory was delayed last night to await the arrival of Ms Roche, who earlier did not attend the first-count result.

Mr Derek Nally, got 4.69 per cent, his campaign fatally damaged by the controversy involving advisers.

Mrs McAleese won more than half of the first-preference vote in 10 of the 41 constituencies. She beat Ms Banotti in all but four south Dublin constituencies un Laoghaire. She even outpolled Ms Banotti and outpolled her by 38.68 per cent to 37.69 per cent in the greater Dublin area.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said Mrs McAleese would represent the State well nationally and internationally.

Ms Roche's poor performance has already fuelled speculation about Mr Dick Spring's future. Anticipating a difficult Labour post-mortem, Mr Spring challenged his critics to come forward. "If there are people who feel that after 15 years they want another leader, that they want someone else to go forward, they should be out in the open," he stated. He was equivocal on the question as to whether he would lead the party into the next election.

The party's deputy leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, ruled out any challenge to Mr Spring and signalled that he had his full support.

The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, wished Mrs McAleese well "as she leads this country into the next century". The Sinn Féin chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, congratulated her on her "stunning success".