Labour's Michael D Higgins set to be Ireland's ninth president

Oct 29, 2011, 8:54 GMT

Dublin - Michael D Higgins was on course to be elected President of Ireland as officials resumed counting in polling centres across the country Saturday.

'I'm very, very happy. It is something I prepared for, something I thought about for a long while,' the Labour candidate and former arts minister said late Friday.

'I am very glad as well that it is a presidency built on a campaign that emphasised ideas. I hope it will be a presidency that will enable everybody to be part of and proud of.'

Under Ireland's proportional representation system, it may be Saturday afternoon before Higgins is officially declared Ireland's ninth president.

Ireland uses a single transferable vote system, whereby voters rank their choices. Candidates are eliminated one by one and their votes redistributed until one has an absolute majority.

With 39.6 per cent of the first preference vote, Higgins has an unassailable lead on his nearest rival, businessman and independent candidate Sean Gallagher with 28.5 per cent.

Northern Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Martin McGuinness came third in the poll with 13.7 per cent of the vote.

But a number of further counts will be required to bring Higgins past the 51 per cent necessary to be officially elected.

His six presidential rivals each conceded defeat in turn Friday, offering their congratulations to the 70-year-old.

Outsider Gallagher, who had a 15-point lead in the opinion polls last weekend, saw his support crumble in a crushing defeat attributed to his ties to Fianna Fáil.

Amid jubilation at the National Count Centre in Dublin Castle, Higgins said the ideas of his presidential rivals would be incorporated into his term at the official residence, Aras an Úachtaráin.

While his ethos was of the left, he would serve as a president for all of the people whether they voted for him or not, he said.

Labour Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore said it had been an honour to nominate Higgins for the job.

'This is a good day for the Labour Party. I'm really happy for him. I'm really delighted that he succeeded,' Gilmore said.

Gay Mitchell, candidate for the ruling Fine Gael, the Labour Party's senior coalition partner, captured just 6.4 per cent.

'We will have to take stock of the decision of the electorate. We are the biggest party in the country and we will have to work to remain there,' Fine Gael General Secretary Tom Curran said Saturday.

Sin Fein's McGuinness alleged on television Monday that Gallagher had received a 5,000 (6950 dollars) cheque on Fianna Fail's behalf from a businessman with a conviction for tax fraud and fuel smuggling.

McGuinness is claiming a tactical victory, having beaten the candidate of governing Fine Gael, which led the attacks on him over his Irish Republican Army past.

Higgins will be inaugurated on November 11, the day after President Mary McAleese, who served two seven-year terms, leaves office.