THE STORY OF Friday’s elections is still being written.
It was a huge day for the Green Party, an uncertain day for Sinn Fein, and potentially something of a comeback for Fianna Fáil, while far left candidates took a hit at the polls.
Counting of the votes began on Saturday but moved more slowly than in previous years because of the amount of time it took to separate the three – and in some cases, four – ballot papers. This means that a huge number of seats will be decided today.
Counting will resume this morning at count centres across the country at 9am (10am in places where the counting went on late last night).
More than 800 seats still have to be filled in city and county councils out of a total of 949.
As counting continues in the local election battles, counting will also get underway in the European elections.
Votes will be counted in Cork (for the Ireland South constituency), Castlebar (for Midlands North West) and Dublin, with a first official result due to be announced at 10pm.
Nothing can be announced until that time to ensure that voting has closed across the rest of Europe and cannot influence voters in other countries. However exit polls suggest that all three constituencies will see battles for the final seats, which will be dependent on how the transfers go from eliminated and elected candidates.
We can also expect to see results from the UK at 10pm, where the Brexit Party is expected to win a large number of seats at the expense of the Conservative Party.
The final results in the divorce referendum will be announced later this morning, with fewer than five constituencies left to declare their results. It is currently running at 82.4% Yes to 17.5% No.
The results of the plebiscites in Cork, Limerick and Waterford on directly-elected mayors are likely to be announced on Monday – but early indications are that at least one of them may be defeated.
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