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Higgins and Norris outside Dublin City Hall last month. Niall Carson/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Race for the Áras
Norris rules out any vote transfer pact with Higgins
The Labour presidential candidate mooted the possibility of a pact today but Norris’s campaign has ruled it out this evening.
DAVID NORRIS HAS ruled out any possible vote transfer pact with fellow presidential candidate Michael D Higgins after the Labour candidate said he would not be against the idea earlier today.
Higgins is reported in the Irish Times to have said he “wouldn’t be against” a transfer pact with Norris but said that no formal discussions had taken place over the idea.
However, speaking to TheJournal.ie tonight a spokesperson for Norris said that there would be no discussions on such a pact and said that “it’s a private ballot for everyone”.
The two former Oireachtas colleagues appeared to clash earlier in the day over a statement issued by Higgins’s campaign which criticised Norris’s voting record on the bank guarantee. The statement was sent “in error”, a spokesperson for Higgins said later.
Before the election got underway, Higgins asked Labour councillors on Dublin City Council to facilitate Norris’s nomination as the senator scrambled for the support of four local authorities he needed in order to be on the ballot paper.
The pair have been friends for many years and reaffirming that friendship, a spokesperson for Norris said that the while there would be no voting pact, Norris and Higgins had a good relationship.
“Himself and Michael D have a special and close friendship,” he said, adding: “David’s in it to win and wants people’s number one vote.”
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