Michelle Gildernew fails to win Ireland MEP seat

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Michelle Gildernew fails to win Ireland MEP seat

13 minutes ago

By Kevin Sharkey, BBC News NI, reporting from Castlebar

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Michelle Gildernew contested the ********* election in the Midlands-North-West constituency

The former MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Michelle Gildernew, has ******* to win a seat in the ********* Parliament.

The Sinn Féin representative contested the ********* election in the Republic of Ireland’s Midlands-North-West constituency.

Ms Gildernew was in the running for the final seat but she lost out to Ciarán Mullooly, a former high-profile news reporter with Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

The Sinn Féin candidate did not attend the declaration of the final result, which took place in Castlebar, County Mayo, just after 03:00 local time on Friday.

She missed out by almost 5,500 votes, as her party lost the seat it had held since 2014.

‘An extraordinary three weeks’

Mr Mullooly told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme that he was “delighted” for his team, who he said took on “the power and might” of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin “without a lot of money”.

“We’re thrilled,” he said. “It’s an incredible end to what has been an extraordinary three weeks in my life.”

PA Images

Ciaran Mullooly celebrates after being elected as an MEP

Ireland has three EU constituencies which send 14 MEPs to Brussels: Dublin, Ireland South and Midlands-North-West.

With the final results now in, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have each won four seats, while Sinn Féin and independents have taken two each.

Labour and Independent Ireland have won one seat each.

‘Sole focus’

Last month, after the *** general election was called while she was a candidate in the ********* elections, Ms Gildernew announced that she would not defend her seat in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

She said her “sole focus” was on the ********* campaign in the Republic.

Her ******** to be elected as an MEP means she now holds no major elected position, after serving as an MLA or MP for about a quarter of a century.

In a double ***** for Sinn Féin in Midlands-North West, which runs along the border, its outgoing MEP Chris McManus ******* to retain his seat in the constituency.

The five seats in the constituency have been won by Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Independent, and Maria Walsh, Fine Gael; newcomers Nina Carberry, a well-known Irish jockey and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, a brother of the former taoiseach Brian Cowen, and Independent Ireland’s Ciarán Mullooly.

Nina Carberry celebrates her victory with Irish EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness

The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris and the Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin both travelled to County Mayo for the final stages of the count.

Mr Harris said he was ecstatic at his party’s success, while Mr Martin played down suggestions that Fianna Fáil’s three-candidate strategy had hampered its chances of taking a second seat in the constituency.

Ms Gildernew has been the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2017. She also held the seat between 2001 to 2015.

She was the first female candidate elected from her party to the House of Commons in more than 80 years since Countess Markievicz in 1918.

She was also the agriculture and rural development minister in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2011.

Ms Gildernew has held senior roles within Sinn Féin, both as health spokesperson and as a member of the party’s national executive.

Final three seats

Independent Michael McNamara, Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion and Fianna Fáil’s Cynthia Ní Mhurchú took the final three seats in the Ireland South constituency.

Independents4Change MEP Mick Wallace lost his seat as he was the sixth and lowest-placed candidate after the 20th count in the five-seat constituency.

They will join Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly and Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher as MEPs for Ireland South.

Counting for the election lasted five days in the Republic.

Across the other EU member states, most MEPs were elected on Sunday and Monday.

The delays in the Republic were largely blamed on the complex system of proportional representation by single transferable vote. Malta is the only other country that uses this system to elect MEPs.

It takes more time compared to having a list system, which is how most other member states run their ********* elections.

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