A few hours after the vote count began in the elections for the presidency of the Republic of Ireland, held on Friday (24), the far-left parliamentarian, Catherine Connolly, declared that she was “absolutely delighted” with the initial results, which point to a victory over the Christian Democrat Heather Humphreys, from the governing Fine Gael.
A 68-year-old independent deputy, Connolly will succeed Labor’s Michael D. Higgins as president, a position that in Ireland is essentially representative and almost symbolic.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the result and I want to thank everyone who supported me,” said Connolly, who has the support of the Chamber’s progressive bloc.
While the deputy recognized her imminent victory, the general secretary of Fine Gael, John Carroll, also spoke in this sense, congratulating Connolly, who, according to him, is too radical for an essentially ceremonial and unifying position.
A long-time critic of the European Union in a largely pro-EU Ireland, Connolly was far from a household name and often drew criticism for her radical left-wing views.
In her most recent controversy, in September, she was criticized for yet another of her views on the terrorist group Hamas, which she said was “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people.”
According to her, “we depend on Hamas to obtain figures related to deaths”, referring to the daily death reports released by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which are contested by Israel.
“[O Hamas] He was elected by the people in the last election. It received overwhelming support in 2006 or 2007. They are part of civil society in Palestine,” he said on an Irish radio program.
Following the controversies, she stated that she “strongly condemned” the actions of Hamas, while at the same time criticizing Israel for carrying out what she called “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the accusation of genocide, Connolly even stated that Israel acts as a “terrorist state” and that “both sides committed war crimes”.
Ireland is considered one of the most active European countries in the Palestinian cause. Last year, Tel Aviv closed its embassy in the European country after the government said it would join South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for possible genocide in the Gaza Strip.
“Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relationship with Israel”, declared, at the time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Saar, pointing out an “extreme anti-Israel policy of the Irish government”
Center-right Prime Minister will have to work with Connolly
With the confirmation of the results, the Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin, considered center-right, and Connolly will have to act together, even with different ideologies.
As part of the first diplomatic gesture, the future Irish president thanked “everyone” for the imminent result, including “those who didn’t vote for me”.
“I understand their concerns about who they believe will best represent them,” she told reporters at the vote counting center in Galway (west), the city where she was mayor between 2004 and 2005.
The poor result of Humphreys, 62, is seen as a punishment for the centre-right bipartisanship of Fine Gael (in power since 2011) and the other major national party, Fianna Fáil, with which it has shared government since 2016.
Despite Connolly’s popularity among young people and Humphreys’ vast political experience, neither name generated much enthusiasm during the campaign, in which almost half the electorate said they did not feel represented by them.
Vote counting continues today, and the winner’s name is expected to be announced later this afternoon at Dublin Castle.
