AN RTÉ/TG4 EXIT poll has indicated that the Green Party’s candidate will top the European election poll in Dublin, and the party is in strong contention for seats in the two other constituencies.
The exit poll has Ciarán Cuffe on 23%, with Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald on 14%. Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews and Independent TD Clare Daly are both on 12%. Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan is on 10%; if these polls are correct, she will not be re-elected as an MEP.
The Green’s Saoirse McHugh is on 12%, which puts her in third place in the Midlands-NorthWest area. Fine Gael’s Mairéad McGuinness and Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy are on 25% and 15% respectively in those areas.
Maria Walsh and Luke Ming Flanagan are in a battle for the final seat, as both are on 10%. Peter Casey looks almost certain to lose out, polling at 7%, just ahead of Fianna Fáil’s two candidates, Brendan Smith and Anne Rabbitte, who are on 6% and 3% respectively.
In Ireland South, Grace O’Sullivan is also on 12%, putting her in fourth place, closely behind Sinn Féin’s Liadh Ní Riada (13%) and Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher (13%). Sean Kelly has topped the polls there on 16%. If the polls are accurate, Independent TD Mick Wallace will win the fifth and last seat in this constituency (the poll puts him on 10%).
Fine Gael’s Deirdre Clune looks to be in danger of losing her MEP seat.
In the local elections, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are both neck-and-neck on 23%.
The Greens have made gains again here, and are on 9% (they were on 1.6% in the last local elections). Sinn Féin are on 12% and the Labour party are on 6%.
Independents are on 15% and other small party groupings such as Solidarity-PBP, Independents 4 Change, and the Independent Alliance are all on 2%.
The Social Democrat party is on 3% while Aontú is on 1%, according to the poll.
The RTÉ exit poll also indicates that 87% have voted ‘Yes’ in the divorce referendum, which would result in the requirements for requesting a divorce being eased. Currently, two married people need to be separated for four years before getting divorced.
Culture Minister Josepha Madigan said that the poll result was “fantastic news”, and said it was clear the Irish people acknowledge that “people need to be shown compassion and shouldn’t have to wait four years to move on” from a broken marriage.
REDC spoke to 3,230 voters in polling stations nationwide, and there’s a 4% margin of error with the poll.
The polls closed at 10pm tonight, and counting begins tomorrow from 9am.
The official results of the European elections won’t be announced until Sunday night after 10pm, when voting has finished across all EU member states.
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