Republican News · Thursday 17 June 1999

[An Phoblacht]

Sinn Féin doubles its vote in 26-County EU elections

BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN

The 88,165 votes won by Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties amounts to a doubling of the party's vote share compared to the 1994 EU election. The party vote share increased in each of the four EU constituencies to 6.33% overall.

In Connacht Ulster, Seán MacManus polled 20,457 votes, 6.39% of the poll, up from 6% in 1994. In Dublin, Seán Crowe's 18,633 votes gave the party 6.64% of the total poll, up from 2.9% in 1994. Arthur Morgan's 20,015 first preferences for Sinn Féin in Leinster was a significant increase from the 2.5% share the party had in 1994. It was in Munster though, that Sinn Féin recorded the highest growth in vote share. Martin Ferris polled 29,060 votes, 6.48% of the poll compared to 1.4% in 1994.

The end result of the election saw little change in the make up of party representation. Fianna Fáil lost a seat in Connacht Ulster to Dana and it seems that we must steel ourselves for Abortion referendum part three. In Leinster, sitting Fine Gael MEP Alan Gillis lost out to poll topper Avril Doyle, while the Green Party's Nuala Ahern hung on for the last seat.

In Dublin, Bernie Malone the loser in the Democratic Left/Labour merger, was cuckooed by Prionsias DeRossa as Labour held its seat.

In Munster, Brian Crowley racked up almost two quotas with his surplus spread around every other candidate. When Martin Ferris was eliminated on the fifth count, 54% of his votes proved nontransferable.

The Sinn Féin transfers were interesting to watch in Dublin. The largest share went to Patricia McKenna. She got 31% of Seán Crowe's transfers with another 28% nontransferable. The performance of Sinn Féin across the four constituencies and the growth in the party's vote share shows that in five years time, there will be four Sinn Féin candidates knocking at the door for EU seats.


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