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LAST UPDATE | 5 Sep
THE PHONEY WAR stage of the presidential election will soon give way to the open warfare stage but before all that there are a number of important dates along the way.
It was confirmed this week that polling day will be Friday 24 October, that’s seven weeks from today.
That date is safely within the constitutional limit, which lays down that the election must take place less than 60 days before the end of the incumbents’ seven-year term, which ends on 11 November 2015.
Now that we have the day of the vote on 24 October, it gives us a good idea of the timeline to come.
Today is a big day in itself because it’s the beginning of the nomination period which began at 10am this morning and runs until noon on 24 September.
This is the period during which candidates can be officially nominated for president and therefore get “on the ballot” when the voting takes place.
There’ll be no posters up before that date though, as the campaign won’t officially begin until the nomination process is complete.
As has been well-ventilated over the past while, there are two “routes” by which a candidate can get on the ballot. Candidates must be either nominated by 20 members of the Oireachtas; or be nominated by at least four local authorities.
The Oireachtas route
Dealing with the first there, that means that over the next 20 days members of the Oireachtas can band together to ensure that a candidate gets on the ballot.
We already know that Fine Gael is putting Heather Humphreys forward so she’ll easily get the required 20 signatures from the 56 TDs and Senators the party has.
Similarly, sitting TD Catherine Connolly will have no problem getting the 20 signatures she needs with the support she has from Labour, the Social Democrats and Solidarity-People Before Profit.
Fianna Fáil will be running a candidate in the election. It won’t be former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who has admitted to supporters that he does not have the backing of the party leadership.
Instead it’ll be either former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin or sitting MEP Billy Kelleher, with the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party set to decide which one by next Tuesday 9 September.
In terms of coherent Oireachtas voting blocs that could nominate a candidate, the only remaining question is what Sinn Féin is planning to do.
The party has the numbers to nominate its own candidate but has been mulling whether to run its own candidate or to throw its support behind Connolly.
Sinn Féin has been holding lengthy consultations with its members on this question and says that a decision will be made by the party’s Ard Chomhairle when it meets on 20 September.
That gives the party only four days to nominate its own candidate if they decide to go that way.
The council route
Councils are also operating within the same nominations window, so time is pretty tight for them to convene meetings and hear from the prospective candidates before the 24 September deadline.
Just like individual Oireachtas members, a council can only nominate one candidate each and candidates need to be nominated by four councils to get on the ballot.
It means that presidential hopefuls will literally have to travel around the country and do the rounds of special meetings of each council.
Generally speaking, any candidate being nominated at the special meeting needs a proposer and seconder if before they are considered.
If more than one candidate is proposed, a roll call vote will be called, and the candidate with the majority of votes will be nominated as the candidate from that council.
One council has told The Journal that eligible candidates may need to secure sponsorship from four councillors before they are able to attend the special session but that this provision will first have to be confirmed by sitting councillors during its next monthly meeting.
Some dates for special meetings to decide on whether councils will support a candidate have already been set, with The Journal asking all local authorities whether they intend to hold such a meeting.
Among the special meetings officially pencilled in or provisionally set are:
Any dates to remember as regards actually voting for president?
As mentioned above, polling day for the presidential election is Friday 24 October but there are a couple of other dates to have in mind if you’re not sure about whether you’re registered to vote.
The Electoral Commission has already been busy informing people and registering voters ahead of the upcoming vote and is urging people to check if their name is on the register via checktheregister.ie.
The deadline to register and update your details for in-person voting for the presidential election is Tuesday 7 October 2025.
If you’re not able to vote in person, the deadline for postal and special voting arrangements for the presidential election is Monday 29 September.
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