Midlands North West: Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew 'not overly optimistic' she can overtake Ciaran Mullooly
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Sinn Féin’s frontrunner in Midlands North West has downplayed their chances of winning a seat, with Michelle Gildernew saying she is “not overly optimistic” she can scrape in.
Ms Gildernew said while the contest isn’t over until “the last count has been completed”, she is “not overly optimistic” that she can overtake Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly.
However, Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty struck a more upbeat note, saying that it will not be until later on Wednesday that “we actually know the real lie of the land”.
“It’s impossible to say because we have no read as to where these transfers are going,” Mr Doherty said.
“I’ve been at enough counts where I’ve thought that candidates are out of the race only to find them hoisted shoulder high at the end of the night.”
Mr Doherty described the count as being “very early days”, despite Ms Gildernew's admission that Mr Mullooly was likely to take the final seat.
“I think we’ve probably resigned to the fact at this stage that we won’t win the last seat.”
Ms Gildernew is currently more than 10,000 votes behind Mr Mullooly, but her party colleague, Chris MacManus is yet to be eliminated. However, a substantial amount of transfers would need to break for Ms Gildernew to catch up.
Meanwhile, questions will be asked after Fianna Fáil’s strategy of running three candidates in Midlands North West may have cost them a second seat in the constituency.
The party took in 21.8% of first-preference votes, narrowly beating Fine Gael’s 21.3%
There is a belief that if Fianna Fáil had only run Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers, they would have been in with a chance of taking a second seat.
While Mr Cowen won a selection convention to contest the election earlier this year, Senator Niall Blaney came in a close second with Ms Chambers coming in third.
There was surprise when both Mr Blaney and Ms Chambers were added to the ticket, with some concern given the party lost out when it ran two candidates in 2019. There was also a very public row within the party over the three-candidates.
Arriving at the centre, Mr Blaney demurred when asked if the party could have won two seats in Midlands North West.
“Yeah, maybe. There’s a possibility, there’s always a possibility, but it is what it is now,” Mr Blaney said.
In a post on social media, Ms Chambers said that she believed Fianna Fáil are still “in the mix” for a final seat. While counting continued throughout the day, the five leading candidates did not see their positions change.
Independent Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan remained at the top of the poll throughout the day, while Fine Gael’s Nina Carberry and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen held second and third place. Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh continued in her fourth place position, while Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly stays in contention for the fifth seat.
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