“Wealthy, privileged” people were behind the ‘spoil the vote’ campaign, Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has said, because they “didn’t get their own candidate on the pitch”.
Speaking to RTÉ as the results were coming in, Gannon, whose party backed victorious Leftwing Independent Catherine Connolly, was asked about voters who disengaged from the political process. It was put to him that the election appeared to be on course to have a record low turnout and an unprecedented number of spoilt ballots from protest voters.
Gannon said that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had “questions to answer in that regard,” adding that “parties of the Left” that backed Connolly, such as the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and Labour, had managed to mobilise their voters behind Connolly, delivering a landslide victory.
He said that Government parties had campaigned in a way that was “negative”, “undermining” and “smearing” Connolly, adding that this impacted the “confidence” of their voters.
“I appreciate that there were also other wealthy privileged people that didn’t get their own candidate on the pitch, who had a ‘spoil the vote’ campaign,” he said.
He added: “The manifestation of that is just spoiled people will be celebrating tonight, and nobody else will, except here where Catherine Connolly will be elected.”
Ongoing vote tallies from Ireland’s 2025 presidential election reveal a decisive lead for independent candidate Catherine Connolly, who is capturing up to 70% support in major urban centers such as Dublin and Cork. In stark contrast, Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys is lagging significantly, securing just 15-30% in numerous constituencies. The Humphreys campaign has already conceded defeat.
Humphreys stepped in as a replacement for Mairead McGuinness, who withdrew due to health issues.
The contest faced additional turbulence from Jim Gavin’s abrupt exit, triggered by revelations of a prior debt controversy. Although he bowed out before voting day, Gavin’s name remained on ballots, siphoning off 4-8% of the vote share.
Voter discontent has manifested in unprecedented spoiled ballot rates – nearing 20% in some of Dublin’s working-class districts and 12-14% across other regions – stemming from dissatisfaction with the narrowed field of just two viable options. In certain locales, these invalid votes have even outpaced the totals for both Connolly and Humphreys.
As a leftwing socialist and TD from Galway, Connolly appears poised to succeed incumbent Michael D. Higgins, becoming Ireland’s 10th president. Official results are set to be announced this evening at Dublin Castle.