Nomination process: The votes of the PDs' parliamentary party carry the most weight. Liam Reid, Political Reporter, explains how a leader of the party is elected
A consensus candidate could be declared the new leader of the Progressive Democrats as early as Monday evening.
Nominations for the leadership will close at midday on that day, and should there be only one candidate nominated, that person would be confirmed leader of the Progressive Democrats by 7pm. Under the party rules, the nomination process and the deadline must still be ratified by the PD national executive, which is due to meet on Monday evening in Dublin shortly after
6pm.The national executive, which included Mary Harney, Liz O'Donnell and Michael McDowell, could decide to extend the nomination deadline, but this is considered unlikely in the event of a consensus candidate. If there is only one nomination for the party leadership, and the closing of nominations is approved by the executive, that person can then be deemed elected by the returning officer for internal PD elections, the party's general secretary, John Higgins.
There are 3,400 PD members who are eligible to vote should there be a party leadership race. Just under a quarter of them are from Tom Parlon's Laois/ Offaly stronghold.
Even though a large proportion of the ordinary members are from Mr Parlon's constituency, their influence is the equivalent of just two members of the parliamentary party, because of the electoral college system used to elect the PD leader. The electorate in the leadership election is divided into three separate electoral colleges, with different weights attached to each electorate. Under the system, the vote of one member of the parliamentary party is worth that of 647 ordinary members of the party.
The first college is made up of the 13 parliamentary party members, which accounts for 40 per cent of the vote. This means that one parliamentary vote is worth approximately 3 per cent in terms of the overall election.
The second college is made up of the party's 29 councillors and the 15 members of the national executive who hold neither an Oireachtas nor local authority seat. This college accounts for 30 per cent, meaning that each vote in this college is worth 0.68 per cent of the entire vote.
The third college is the ordinary electorate of 3,400, which accounts for the remaining 30 per cent of the vote in the race. Every 200 ordinary member votes are worth 1.76 per cent in terms of the election.