2011 Irish presidential election

2011 Irish presidential election
← 2004 27 October 2011 2018 →
Turnout56.1%
 
Michael D. Higgins, 2012 (cropped).jpg
Seán Gallagher portrait.jpg
MartinMcGuinness2012.jpg
Nominee Michael D. Higgins Seán Gallagher Martin McGuinness
Party Labour Independent Sinn Féin
1st preference 701,101 (39.6%) 504,964 (28.5%) 243,030 (13.7%)
Final count 1,007,104 (56.8%) 628,114 (35.5%) Eliminated
 
Gay Mitchell, 2014 (cropped).jpg
David Norris portrait.jpg
Dana Rosemary Scallon EU parliament official portrait.jpg
Nominee Gay Mitchell David Norris Dana Rosemary Scallon
Party Fine Gael Independent Independent
1st preference 113,321 (6.4%) 109,469 (6.2%) 51,220 (2.9%)
Final count Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated
 
Mary Davis 1.jpg
Nominee Mary Davis
Party Independent
1st preference 48,657 (2.7%)
Final count Eliminated
First-preference results by Dáil constituency.
President before election

Mary McAleese
Independent

Elected President

Michael D. Higgins
Labour

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The 2011 Irish presidential election was the thirteenth presidential election to be held in Ireland, and was contested by a record seven candidates.[1] It was held on Thursday, 27 October 2011.[2][3] The election was held to elect a successor to Mary McAleese, with the winner to be inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland on 11 November 2011. Two constitutional referendums and a by-election for a vacant Dáil seat in the Dublin West constituency took place on the same day.[4][5]

The seven candidates were Mary Davis, Seán Gallagher, Michael D. Higgins, Martin McGuinness, Gay Mitchell, David Norris and Dana Rosemary Scallon. Higgins was nominated by Labour, McGuinness by Sinn Féin and Mitchell by Fine Gael, while Independent candidates Davis, Gallagher, Norris and Scallon were nominated by local authorities. The previously dominant Fianna Fáil party declined to nominate a candidate following their disastrous general election campaign earlier that year. Michael D. Higgins was ultimately elected as president.[6][7] Higgins also became the first politician in Irish history to obtain over 700,000 first preference votes and over one million votes in a final count.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference seven_candidates was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference dateset was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Voting on certain offshore islands took place on 24 and 25 October. "Voting begins in presidential election today". Irish Independent. 24 October 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  4. ^ Burke-Kennedy, Eoin (27 July 2011). "Date set for presidential poll". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Dublin West by-election set for 27 October". RTÉ News. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 29 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  6. ^ "RTÉ Live Election Count (Friday)". RTÉ News. 28 October 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  7. ^ "Irish presidential election: Michael D Higgins elected". BBC News. 31 October 2011. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.