A SIMPLE RECOUNT took place in the Dublin constituency of the European elections today, after being requested by Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil.
The Dublin count had been suspended last night after questions emerged about how votes were going to be transferred. This was in part due to the fact that, because of Brexit, the person who gets the fourth seat – out of four – won’t be able to take it until the UK exits the EU.
Barry Andrews (Fianna Fáil) and Clare Daly (Independents4Change) are vying for third and fourth seats.
After the votes were distributed today, Daly overtook Andrews into third place, while Andrews took the fourth place. Neither have met the quota yet. Lynn Boylan was excluded after the recount and her transfers are to be distributed – and Daly is more likely to benefit from Boylan’s transfers than Andrews. It looks certain that Daly and Andrews will both get a seat in Europe.
Andrews told the press afterwards that he is happy he won a seat and that it has been a long time since his party won an MEP seat. He said that “everybody in the fight was very fair” and ran a positive campaign.
Should he get the fourth seat, he won’t be able to take it until Brexit occurs. Until then, he will be in what some are calling ‘cold storage’.
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