BERTIE AHERN HAS said he will vote for Heather Humphreys in the presidential election next Friday, adding that as himself and Jim Gavin aren’t in the race, she is his top choice for the Áras.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, The former Fianna Faíl leader expressed his strong support for Humphreys, who he said he knows very well from working in Northern Ireland.

“I think she’s a person who could do an awful lot of work on reconciliation and the partnership that we need to build in communities because of the fact she’s very involved in her own church and community,” he said.

“Since the events have happened that I wasn’t in it and Gavin wasn’t in it, I would have been very supportive of Heather,” he said.

When asked today if he believes he could have won the election, Ahern said “naturally you do” when putting yourself forward.

‘This was my time’

He previously said he spent two years preparing for the presidential election and had a campaign “ready to go” before he ruled himself out in September due to a lack of support from the Fianna Fáil leadership.

“I had the campaigning done,” he said, adding that he had been in all 32 counties of Ireland in the last year.

Ahern said he was a “bit sad” that Fianna Faíl had no candidate in the election following Gavin’s shock withdrawal earlier this month, adding that the former candidate was a “fine fella”.

Ahern re-emphasised his disappointment with Taoiseach Micheál Martin for not endorsing him as the party’s candidate.

“If they didn’t want me they had an opportunity to tell me anywhere between Christmas and Easter,” he said.

He added that if he knew there would be no Fianna Faíl candidate he would have ran as an independent candidate.

“I felt this was my time”.

‘Bruising’

Martin previously said that running as Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate it would have been “bruising” for Ahern.

“It would have been incredibly bruising for him, I don’t know why he would want to bring it upon himself,” he said, referring to the “enormity” of what would be “churned out” against him.

Ahern said he will support whichever candidate the public elects as he is a member of the Council of the State, the group which provides aid and counsel to the president.

Despite his personal support for Humphreys, he recognised Connolly has a “large lead”. 

The latest presidential poll suggested Connolly has almost double the support as Humphreys.

“She’s obviously resonated with the public,” he said.