The Greens and hard-left have been crushed in Ireland’s European Parliament elections after a lengthy vote count.
Despite the Irish contest having been conducted days earlier than the vast majority of other countries, it took almost a full week for the island nation to figure out who won the vote – due to its relatively complex electoral system.
The final count for all three of Ireland’s EP election constituencies was made available in the early hours of June 14, with the data revealing that it had been a bad result for the country’s left.
The ruling Green Party arguably came off worse, with both of its incumbent MEPs — Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O’Sullivan — losing their seats.
Things also went wrong for Independents 4 Change, with anti-war politicians Clare Daly and Mick Wallace also losing their spots in the EP, prompting joyous responses from social media commentators hawkish on Russia and China.
Fellow Left Group member Sinn Féin also had a decidedly mixed result, vastly underperforming in the vote compared to its strong positioning in the country’s national polls.
While the group did end up picking up one seat, it ended up doing so at the expense of its sole incumbent representative — Chris MacManus — who lost his spot after a weak showing in Midlands-North-West.
The ruling Fine Gael — a member of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party — also ended up losing one seat, although it remains one of the country’s most prominent political groups.
Ireland’s member of the European Parliament’s Left group, Sinn Féin, looks set to take a hammering in the country’s local elections. https://t.co/2ZOLTKpTOF
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 9, 2024
Ireland’s elections also threw up some surprising victors.
Both Renew Europe and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group made gains, with the Liberal-aligned Fianna Fáil garnering two seats, while the Irish Labour Party will re-enter Brussels with a single seat after being absent since 2019.
The unaffiliated Luke “Ming” Flanagan also had a particularly strong showing, coming first in the highly competitive Midlands-North-West constituency, which saw 27 different candidates battle it out for just five EP seats.
Known for his pro-cannabis stance, as well as styling himself on Flash Gordon antagonist Ming the Merciless, Flanagan has become a bastion of political stability within Ireland, with the veteran politician having served the country in Brussels since 2014.
It was also a good day for the nascent party Independent Ireland, with the group member Ciaran Mullooly also managing to grab one of the Midlands-North-West seats in the early hours of June 14. As of writing, it was unclear which EP group will benefit from the victory, although party leaders in Dublin appear to have built close ties to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
🗳️ Have you ever been bamboozled by Ireland’s electoral system, or how election counts work under the PR-STV system?
Fear not: I can explain… 🔴 using 🟠 a 🟡 well-known 🟢 chocolate 🔵 sweet 🟣 snack 🟤.
(Other tasty confections are available. #notspon.) pic.twitter.com/kMHooliKRK
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 7, 2024
Conversation in the country is now drifting towards the issue of how inefficient the voting system is. Ireland’s proportional representation framework proved so difficult to get to grips with that no outlet in the country bothered to run an exit poll.
Its complexity also resulted in a substantial number of ballots being accidentally spoiled, with almost 56,000 votes reportedly being deemed ineligible across the country.
"The reality is they want to shut down debate!"
Irish MEP candidate @MalachySteenson talked to Brussels about the controversial Irish hate speech legislation.
Watch the full interview at https://t.co/WZkkhqEvwy #FreeSpeech #Ireland pic.twitter.com/bBjD3Tvuvb
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 17, 2024
