Irish presidential election
In the presidential elections in Ireland is the Head of State of the Republic of Ireland, President of Ireland, was elected.
The President of Ireland is elected by the citizens of the Republic of every seven years; in the event of premature departure must take place within 60 days of the election. During this time, the Presidential Commission takes over the duties of the President; it is also the representative of the President. The election shall be held confidential by the system of instant runoff voting. While in elections to Dáil Éireann both Irish and British citizens who have permanent residence in Ireland may choose may in presidential elections only Irish citizens who are at least 18 years old to participate.
May be candidates every citizen who is at least 35 years old. However, a candidate must be nominated by one of the following:
- Of twenty members of the National Parliament ( Oireachtas )
- Of four of the Irish counties
- Themselves, in the event that he is retiring or former president.
If only one candidate, it automatically applies ( without actual vote) elected. A president may exercise a maximum of two terms of office from his office.
Overview of the presidential elections from 1938 to today
1938
The presidential elections in 1938 were the first in Ireland to fill the newly created position of President. After negotiations between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the former independent Senator and founder of the Gaelic League Douglas Hyde was nominated. Trials of long-time Dublin Mayor Alfred Byrne, to be also nominated, failed the assistance they require. Hyde has therefore been "elected" unopposed. He took office in June 1938.
1945
1945 took place the first " real " election of a president. Following the decision of the first president Douglas Hyde, not to stand for re-election, the Fianna Fáil party nominated its leader, Sean T. O'Kelly the Tánaiste as their candidate. Independent Republican Patrick MacCartan first had no success, to get the required four votes. As the opposition party Fine Gael expected with this failure, she decided at the last minute for set up its own candidate: General Sean MacEoin. But MacCartan made it in the end but still, to get the 20 votes of the Oireachtas, so that the presidential election unexpectedly contained three candidates.
When choosing O'Kelly won as expected, but only after the second round (see instant run-off voting). The fact that O'Kelly not already succeeded in the first round, already reflected the growing opposition to Eamon de Valera's government and showed the potential of cooperation between various opposition parties. De Valera's government was defeated at the election in 1948 and replaced by a multi-party government.
1952
In the election in 1952, the first since the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, the incumbent President Sean T. O'Kelly decided to run for a second term. Neither party presented on an opposing candidate, only the satirist Eoin (the Pope) O'Mahony tried to meet the nomination criteria and failed. So O'Kelly was automatically re- president.
1959
In the 1959 election decided ( with pressure from his party members) the founder and long-time leader of Fianna Fáil, the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera to leave the active party politics and to compete for the presidency. The opposition party Fine Gael sent their defeated candidate in 1945, General Sean MacEoin, again in the race. As expected, won de Valera.
1966
In 1966, Eamon de Valera reluctantly decided, but to stand on pressure from his party for a second term. The opposition chose this time for one of her younger parliamentarians: Tom O'Higgins. In a surprisingly tight election, the challenger missed the win by only 1 % or just 10,000 votes. De Valera later pushed this close result to his campaign manager, Charles Haughey.
1973
As Eamon de Valera could not constitutionally due for a third term candidate, former Tánaiste Frank Aiken should first take, but who refused. Under pressure from his party Erskine Hamilton Childers approached. The favorite in the election was Tom O'Higgins, the candidate of Fine Gael, who had lost only 1% in the last election. But Childers surprisingly won this election.
1974
The sudden death of President Erskine Hamilton Childers, a presidential election was 1974 necessary. Originally, all parties agreed secretly to nominate the President of Rita Childers widow, but before it was announced and before it was even informed it led to the collapse of a misunderstanding of this Agreement. The semi- deaf Fine Gael Minister Tom O'Donnell understood the question from a journalist for alleged nomination of Mrs. Childers wrong. He thought that the journalist already knew about the nomination decision and confirmed that Rita Childers would be the new President of Ireland. The opposition, of the opinion that the whole mess was staged by the government and this would suggest it political advantage, then withdrew from the agreement.
Instead, hit the Fianna Fáil candidate Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh ago, a former president of the Supreme Court and Minister of Justice Eamon de Valera. All parties agreed to, so Ó Dálaigh was declared without election as the new president. Only at his inauguration learned of Jack Lynch, leader of Fianna Fáil, by chance at a meeting thereof, that the confusion about Mrs. Childers was actually a misunderstanding.
1976
The election in 1976 was necessary due to the sudden resignation of President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh in October. Ó Dálaigh had resigned, named after the Minister of Defence Paddy Donegan the President ( thundering disgrace ) a " colossal disgrace " and refers to him as disloyal to the state hatte.a
The Fianna Fáil leader Jack Lynch suggested as candidates Patrick Hillery, former Irish foreign minister. Charles J. Haughey, a critic of Hillery, however, suggested that parliamentarians from Donegal Joe Brennan ago, but Hillery won the internal party vote easily.
The government parties, Fine Gael and Irish Labour Party could propose a challenging candidate, but decided because of the events surrounding the resignation of Ó Dálaigh against it, so that Patrick Hillery was declared the sixth president. He took office on 3 December 1976.
1983
1983 approved the current President Patrick Hillery to after enormous political pressure to run for another term. Although the Nobel Peace Prize winner and recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize, Seán MacBride, in the Sunday Press lamented that he would also be a candidate for the post, was only nominated Hillery, so that this president was again without any real choice.
1990
In the 1990 election announced the Irish Labour Party that it would put forward one candidate for the first time. The choice fell on Mary Robinson, a former senator and liberal supporter, including access to contraceptives. For Fianna Fáil, the then Tánaiste ( Deputy Prime Minister ) Brian Lenihan senior approached, the party internally prevailed against John P. Wilson. Fine Gael sent after the former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and former Tánaiste Peter Barry did not want to compete, the new parliament and former Social Democratic minister in Northern Ireland, Austin Currie, into the race.
Brian Lenihan was before the election as a favorite, because no Fianna Fáil candidate had ever lost a presidential election. But Lenihan went into a twilight when he admitted in an interview with freelance journalist Jim Duffy that he was in 1982 with the controversial dissolution of Parliament in attempts to put pressure on President Patrick Hillery pressure involved. As this earlier interview appeared (from May 1982) after his public protestations of innocence, he was released under pressure from the coalition partner during the election campaign of the government.
In the first round (see Instant Runoff Voting ) pointed Mary Robinson candidate Austin Currie to third place and then reached, subsequent to the distribution of second votes, surprising victory.
1997
The 11th presidential election was held on 30 October 1997. In this election so far took the most of the candidates; 5 nominees, of whom 4 were women. The candidates are as follows:
Mary McAleese: Mary McAleese was the candidate of Fianna Fáil, even though she had not gone as the favorite in the internal party excretion in advance. Beside her stood as candidates nor the former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Michael O'Kennedy, a former minister. In the first round of voting Reynolds reached 49 votes, 42 McAleese and O'Kennedy 21 In the decisive round of voting McAleese won with 62 to 48 votes.
Mary Banotti: The Fine Gael candidate was Mary Banotti, a great-niece of Michael Collins, and sister of the deputy leader of the party, Nora Owen. It was considered a excellent choice and hit almost in the internal party excretion Avril Doyle.
Adi Roche Adi Roche went for the parties Labour Party, Democratic Left and Green Party in the race. As a charity worker and human rights advocate, Roche was a good choice for the parties involved.
Dana Rosemary Scallon Dana Rosemary Scallon was nominated by five district municipalities and was thus also eligible to participate in the election, even if this kind of nomination for the first time came to fruition. Scallon was 1970 winner of the Euro Vision Song Contest and sat in first place for the family values .
Derek Nally: Fifth in the league was the only male candidate Derek Nally. He was a former police officer and fighter for the rights of victims - he received the nomination of five district municipalities.
The choice had to, because the incumbent President Mary Robinson already spent seven years in office, to take place in that year, but was postponed due to their resignation slightly forward - Robinson resigned to take up a position as High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations. Before the election, Adi Roche was considered a possible winner, but she got in trouble and her campaign was over before it had begun, when her bullying was accused towards their employees. Banotti showed a solid campaign, while Dana with her appearance and her campaign all surprised. Derek Nallys occurrence was influenced by election campaign internal problems.
The voter turnout was only 1,279,688 voters (48% ) are very low. McAleese won the election surprisingly clear before Banotti while Dana also surprising Roche referred to a humiliating fourth place.
2004
The date for the 2004 presidential elections 22 October 2004 was provided, but when on October 1, the deadline for nominations had expired, Mary McAleese was, who had been nominated as acting president himself, the only candidate. So McAleese was elected without a vote for a second seven-year term. This was after Sean T. O'Kelly (1952) and Patrick Hillery (1983 ) for the third time the case.
2011
The 12th presidential election was held on October 27, 2011. The outgoing President Mary McAleese could not reapply it after two seven-year terms of office. To her successor as never before competed seven candidates, so many. International attention reached primarily the candidacy of Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness. The election was also the first presidential election after the financial crisis and the resulting dramatic shifts in the majority in the Irish Parliament.
The election was won by Labour politician Michael D. Higgins in the fourth round of counting with 1,007,104 votes ( 61.6 percent ) against the only remaining candidate Seán Gallagher ( 628 114 votes). Higgins had performed well in all of the foregoing enumeration rounds well before Gallagher. The turnout was 56.1 percent.