Clare Daly, the often-controversial left wing MEP for Dublin, formally lost her seat in the European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
Daly, who achieved worldwide notoriety for her staunch opposition to NATO and hostility to the funding of the war in Ukraine by western countries, was eliminated after the 17th count in the European constituency that encompasses Ireland’s capital. Ireland uses a transferable vote system that allows voters to transfer their votes from one candidate to another, with the weakest candidates eliminated count after count. When the votes were announced, Daly needed to gain over 6,000 votes on her closest rival, but fell short.
Daly’s close associate and colleague, Mick Wallace, is also in a dogfight to hold his seat in the Ireland South constituency, where counting is at a much less advanced stage – and where it is much too early to say anything other than that his re-election is far from assured.
Daly and Wallace had operated as a high-profile duo in the European Parliament, courting controversy by often appearing to echo the arguments of Russian President Vladimir Putin in relation to the Ukraine War, and by making high profile visits to China, and pro-Iranian militias operating in Iraq.
However, the two MEPs had also built a substantial following outside of Ireland, where their speeches and statements often went internationally viral, and were regularly featured in Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state media.
Following this election however, Daly, at least, will no longer have the platform of the EU parliament from which to make those speeches.