TURNOUT IN TODAY’S by-elections has been “diabolically” low, with the average percentage across the four areas below 30%.
Polls have been open since 7am and closed at 10pm to replace four TDs elected to the European Parliament in May – the constituencies are Dublin Fingal, Dublin Mid-West, Wexford and Cork North Central.
Brendan Ryan, a TD in Fingal which is one of the four areas holding by elections, said that the turnout in Skerries at 7pm was 25.8%.
The Cork Echo reported that turnout has been described as low, with 5-10% turnout in booths in Blackpool at lunchtime.
Forty-three candidates are on the ballot papers for by-elections across the four constituencies. We could know the results of the by-elections by tomorrow evening.
In Cork North Central, voters will decide who should fill the seat vacated by Billy Kelleher while, in Wexford, constituents are voting to decide who will take Mick Wallace’s seat in the Dáil after his election to the European Parliament.
Other vacancies to be filled are Frances Fitzgerald’s seat in Dublin Mid-West and Clare Daly’s seat in Dublin Fingal.
In the Dublin South-West by-election in 2014, voters cast their ballots on Friday 10 October and the final result was announced after eight counts at around 7.30pm on Saturday evening.
The count centre for Cork North-Central will be in the Nemo Rangers GAA club. Wexford votes will be counted in St Joseph’s Club community centre in Bishopswater.
In Dublin, the Mid-West constituency votes will be counted in Adamstown community centre while the Fingal votes will be tallied in the National Show Centre near Dublin Airport.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say