UP to 5,000 new voters will be eligible to cast their vote in next
month’s General Election in Donegal.
When nominations closed yesterday for people who are not registered to
vote to get on the Supplementary Register of Electors more than 2,000
forms had been received by Donegal County Council.
Added to the 2,600 names already on the Supplementary Register since
last year’s local elections there will be in excess of 125,000 names
on the register ahead of the election.
Yesterday was also the deadline for General Election candidates to get
their name on their constituency ballot paper. Thirteen candidates
will contest the five-seat Donegal constituency compared to sixteen
who put their names before the electorate in 2016.
Poll topper
Four years ago Fianna Fáil’s Agriculture spokesman Charlie McConalogue
topped the poll in Donegal and surpassed the 12,218 quota with a
surplus on the first count. It was a longer wait until his party
colleague Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher; Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty and
Fine Gael’s Joe McHugh got over the line.
Killybegs-based Independent Thomas Pringle edged out Sinn Féin’s
Padraig MacLochlainn for the fifth and final seat.
They are joined by Councillor Martin Harley (Fine Gael), Senator
Padraig MacLochlainn (Sinn Féin), Michael White (Green Party), Mary T
Sweeney (Aontú), former Presidential candidate Peter Casey
(Independent), the Mayor of Letterkenny and Milford Cllr John
O’Donnell and Arthur McGuinness (Independent) from Moville. Canidates have until 12 noon today to withdraw their name.
Mary T Sweeney, the only female candidate, narrowly lost out on
securing a seat in last year’s local elections. She stood in the
Letterkenny Milford area where Cllr John O’Donnell topped the poll
with 1,959 first preference votes.
Moville-based Independent Arthur McGuinness, a late entrant into the
race, stood in the Carndonagh Electoral Area in last year’s local
elections where he garnered 54 first preference votes.
Candidates are busy on the hustings across the county, with new
policies and promises of political reform abounding.
Meanwhile, results of the first TG4 opinion poll in Donegal will be
analysed and discussed on ‘Vóta 2020? tonight, Thursday.
‘Vóta 2020’ will be live from Donegal at 7pm during which guests will
discuss the findings of the MRBI opinion poll.
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