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Inishowen the biggest loser in
Election 2007
26.05.07
Inishowen is the
biggest casualty in the Donegal North East election
having lost its sitting TD, Cecilia Keaveney, and
failing to return any new deputies.
The shock to the peninsula was delivered around
3.15am following the distribution of Keaveney's
6,744 votes. |
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And, as widely
predicted, her transfers fell politically rather
than geographically, favouring her colleagues James
McDaid and Niall Blaney, rather than Sinn Fein's
Padraig MacLochlainn.
Fianna Fail cumanns around the peninsula are reeling
following Keaveney's shock defeat, bringing to an
end her ten-year career as a TD. |
Donegal North East
returned its first Dail deputy, Joe McHugh of Fine
Gael, just after 1am with the body-blow to the
Keaveney camp coming in the sixth count just after
1.40am.
The local constituency threw up some of the biggest
election-day surprises as a cliffhanger count
continued into the early hours and confounded the
pundits. |
Fine Gael's Joe McHugh
provided the first surprise of the day when he
topped the poll with a first count of 8,711 votes.
He took more than a whopping 3,000 votes - or 21% -
of the Inishowen vote.
The count was delayed by several hours at a packed
Mount Errigal Hotel yesterday due to a recheck
called due to concerns that the number of ballot
sheets counted did not tally with the number
initially declared when the boxes were opened. |
 |
And the first count,
shortly after 9pm, threw up even more surprises when
the official figures varied widely for some
candidates than those predicted earlier in the day
by the tallymen.
From then on, it was a tense wait for the rest of
the main contenders including James McDaid (6724
first preference votes), Padraig MacLochlainn
(6,733), Cecilia Keaveney (6,362) and Niall Blaney
(6,288).
It quickly became clear that the winners and losers
in the race for the last two seats would be decided
on transfers.
Joe McHugh was declared elected on the fifth count
with 10,034 votes bringing him over the 9,637 quota
by 394 votes.
He was clearly thrilled by the win if more than a
little shocked by the nature of it.
"This is a nice feeling and it's great to deliver a
seat especially for the people who have been
involved in the Fine Gael organisation in Donegal
for 30 or 40 years.
"People have placed a lot of responsibility on my
shoulders in electing me and I believe that I can
deliver for them." While admitting his party had
been on a downward spiral following the last
election, he said his team had stuck by the new Fine
Gael strategy with the result that they had returned
a TD to the constituency.
It was still all to play for at 2am, for the second
and third seats, between McDaid (7,489),
MacLochlainn (7,410) and Blaney (6,888). Keaveney
who looked vulnerable all day eventually fell when
McHugh's surplus of 397 votes were distributed,
leaving her a total of 6,744 votes. The final
decision came after the eighth count which put
Blaney on 9,439 - 563 clear of MacLochlainn.
McDaid's final tally was 10,008 votes. Elected -
McHugh (FG), McDaid (FF) and Blaney (FF). |
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