LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago
MICHAEL HEALY-RAE has been re-elected in Kerry, after a lengthy count was delayed due to misplaced ballot papers.
Healy-Rae easily secured his seat in the first count, securing a sizeable 18,596 votes (23.7%) and surpassing the quota of 13.083.
Danny Healy-Rae is also expected to safely retain his seat, with Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly and Fianna Fáil education Minister Norma Foley set to return.
The fifth seat is currently a toss up between Fianna Fáil candidate Michael Cahill and Fine Gael candidate Billy O’Shea.
The announcement of the first count had been delayed due to a misplaced stack of ballot papers, which caused confusion among count officials as they did not correspond in terms of weight with a set amount of votes.
The confusion delayed the announcement of the first count results until 11:40pm.
Healy-Rae told Newstalk that he expects to see his brother Danny to be elected alongside him.
Outgoing polls had Michael Healy-Rae exceeding the quota by a sizeable 10%.
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