EARLY TALLIES IN the presidential election point to an overwhelming victory by Catherine Connolly but also reveal a sharp increase in spoiled ballots.

Connolly told reporters at her local count centre in Galway West that she is “absolutely delighted” with the results so far.

“We came together on behalf of a new vision for the country, and we should be proud to represent the public on this, when it comes to housing and peace,” Connolly said.

“I will put hope into people again and I have to say to them, the office is for you. I am only a symbol of the new movement.

“I am incredibly hopeful that this movement will continue, and I have no doubt about that,” Connolly added.

Tallies suggest Catherine Connolly is on course to become the tenth President of Ireland.
Arriving at the Galway West count centre, Ms Connolly said she was “absolutely delighted” and thanked “everybody”, including those who did not vote for her.#presidentialelection #ireland… pic.twitter.com/FZBOtxcm4c

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 25, 2025

Connolly thanked her supporters and also thanked “everybody, even those that didn’t vote for me.”

She added: “I understand their concerns in relation to who will represent them best, and I will do my utmost to represent everyone.”

As of 9.45am in both Cork North and South Central, Connolly was claiming close to 70% of the boxes tallied.

Heather Humphreys was taking in around 24% of the ballots in early tallies here, while Jim Gavin was claiming around 6% of votes.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín told RTÉ this morning that a vote for the Fianna Fáil candidate, who ended his campaign in early October, was akin to a spoiled ballot.

There is also a sharp increase in the number of spoiled ballots, many of which contain anti-government messaging.

In some areas, spoiled ballots were tallying higher than Heather Humphreys, such as in Dublin South Central.

More spoiled votes than for Heather Humpreys in Dublin South Central

19.15% or 5466 spoiled votes

On total valid poll

Connolly 78.5%
Humphreys 16.08%
Gavin 5.3%

This was Fine Gael’s weakest constituency in General Election

— Barry Lenihan (@BarryLenihan) October 25, 2025

And in Offaly, the number of spoiled ballots was at over 20% in early tallies.

It had been noted before the election that a sharp increase in spoiled ballots could prolong the count, as each invalid ballot needs to be individually adjudicated by the returning officer.

Spoil the vote

In the 2011 presidential election, some 18,676 votes were spoiled, which equalled around 1% of the total votes cast.

There was a similar number of spoiled votes in 2018, with 18,438 opting to spoil their vote, some 1.2% of all votes cast.

This time around though, there was a concerted effort to spoil the vote.

A recent Ipsos/B&A poll showed that a significant 6% of voters plan to spoil their vote but early tallies suggest that the number of spoiled ballots will be higher than that.

Businessman and former European election candidate Declan Ganley is one of the figures behind the campaign to encourage people to spoil their vote – before the election, he said he would write in “1 Maria Steen” on his ballot.

Pictures from count centres around the country show that a number of people followed his lead.

A lot of effort gone into this spoiled vote from Chapelizod in Dublin South Central #Aras25 @IrishTimes pic.twitter.com/LE5unBctNo

— Sarah Burns (@sarahburnss_) October 25, 2025

When Ganley asked what changes could be made to the process of getting on the ballot, he suggested that getting the signatures of between 10,000 and 20,000 people should be enough.

He also suggested that local authorities should not be allowed to block votes on potentially backing a candidate.