Harkin tops poll after dramatic recount

NORTH WEST:SITTING INDEPENDENT MEP Marian Harkin topped the poll in the North West constituency after a lengthy count and a dramatic recheck of ballot papers.

Ms Harkin was elected at about 3.30am yesterday morning, along with former MEP Pat “The Cope” Gallagher TD of Fianna Fáil and current Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins.

The three candidates were declared elected simultaneously after the sixth count following the elimination of Libertas leader Declan Ganley, who finished more than 35,900 votes behind Mr Higgins.

The North West was the final of the four European election constituencies to be declared.

However, party workers shook off weariness and hoisted the successful candidates on to their shoulders for a boisterous early-morning sing-song.

In this long and winding constituency, a rousing rendition of The West’s Awake from the Higgins and Harkin camps was answered by a favourite of The Cope’s: We’d have our own Las Vegas in the Hills of Donegal.

Ms Harkin, with 121,672 votes after 84,813 first preferences, prompted cheers when she said she wanted to thank “the Harkin machine”.

“As an Independent politician, it is very clear to me that there is a space in Irish politics for Independent politicians,” she said.

Mr Gallagher, whose 120,930 votes followed 82,643 first preferences, said he wanted to commiserate with unsuccessful candidates in the elections, “particularly in my own party”. He added: “It’s more difficult to play against the wind than with the wind.”

Mr Gallagher entered the contest recently after outgoing MEP Seán Ó Neachtáin decided to stand down, and his success will prompt a byelection in his Donegal South West Dáil constituency.

Mr Higgins secured 120,185 votes, 80,093 of which were first preferences.

Mr Ganley, who finished with 84,277 votes, had polled 67,638 number ones.

The transfer patterns predicted by party workers held up as the count progressed, with Ms Harkin initially proving a strong beneficiary of transfers from eliminated candidates.

She earned the largest portion of transfers from the five other Independent candidates and took 9,623 transfers from Labours Susan O’Keefe.

Ms Harkin slipped into third place after the fifth count but transfers from the excluded Sinn Féin candidate in the final count pushed her back into first place.

Meanwhile, Mr Gallagher got 24,908 transfers from former senator Paschal Mooney, who was also running on the Fianna Fáil ticket. He also got 8,308 transfers from Sinn Féin.

Mr Higgins benefited from a larger than expected transfer of 24,536 votes from his running mate Senator Joe O’Reilly, which edged him into the lead temporarily on the fourth count. He subsequently got 6,375 Sinn Féin transfers.

Mr Ganley got 8,572 transfers from Sinn Féin. The Sinn Féin candidate, Padraig MacLochlainn, was excluded after the fifth count with 54,737 votes, after polling 45,515 first preferences.

Mr Mooney was eliminated on the fourth count, with 47,702 votes, of which 42,985 were first preferences.