1997 Irish presidential election

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1997 Irish presidential election
Flag of Ireland.svg
  1990 30 October 1997 2004  
Turnout47.6% (16.5% Decrease2.svg)
 
Mary McAleese, October 2001 (cropped).jpg
Mary Banotti, Jan 1995 (cropped).jpg
Dana Rosemary Scallon EU parliament official portrait.jpg
Nominee Mary McAleese Mary Banotti Dana Rosemary Scallon
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Independent
Alliance Progressive Democrats [lower-alpha 1]
1st preference574,424 (45.2%)372,002 (29.3%)175,458 (13.8%)
Final count706,259 (55.6%)497,516 (39.2%)Eliminated

 
Adi Roche 2024 (cropped).jpg
Ind
Nominee Adi Roche Derek Nally
Party Labour Independent
Alliance
1st preference88,423 (7.0%)59,529 (4.7%)
Final countEliminatedEliminated

President before election

Mary Robinson [1]

Elected President

Mary McAleese
Fianna Fáil

The 1997 Irish presidential election was held on Thursday, 30 October 1997. It was the eleventh presidential election to be held in Ireland, and only the sixth to be contested by more than one candidate. It was held ahead of schedule when incumbent Mary Robinson resigned to assume her new appointment as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Contents

Candidates

The Minister for the Environment and Local Government made the order opening nominations on 15 September, with 30 September as the deadline for nominations. [2] Five people received nominations, the highest number contesting to that point, and more remarkably, four of the five were women.

Mary McAleese

Mary McAleese was selected by Fianna Fáil as their candidate for the presidency. Born in Belfast, she was formerly a journalist with broadcaster, RTÉ, and at the time of her nomination, she was Pro-Vice Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast. Two other candidates, Albert Reynolds and Michael O'Kennedy, had also sought the Fianna Fáil nomination. Reynolds was a former Taoiseach while O'Kennedy was a former cabinet minister having served in the Finance and Foreign Affairs portfolios. Both were also sitting TDs which was seen as an advantage. In the first round of voting, Reynolds received 49 votes, McAleese 42, and O'Kennedy 21. In the second round, McAleese won, with 62 votes to Reynolds's 48. McAleese was later also endorsed by the Progressive Democrats, the smaller party in the coalition government with Fianna Fáil. [3]

Mary Banotti

Mary Banotti was nominated by Fine Gael. She was the grand-niece of the former Irish leader, Michael Collins, and sister of the deputy leader of the party, Nora Owen. She defeated colleague Avril Doyle for the party nomination in a very close contest. Banotti, who was an MEP at the time, was the only serving politician among the five presidential candidates.

Adi Roche

Adi Roche, who had founded Chernobyl Children International in 1991, was nominated by the Labour Party. [4] Roche was later endorsed by Democratic Left and the Green Party. [5] At 42 years of age, she was and is the youngest person to stand in an Irish presidential election.

Dana Rosemary Scallon

Dana Rosemary Scallon received the nominations of five county councils: Donegal, Kerry, Longford, North Tipperary and Wicklow. [6] Scallon was a singer, the winner of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, and a family values campaigner. She was the first candidate in any Irish presidential election to have been nominated by local authorities, rather than by Oireachtas members.

Derek Nally

Derek Nally was the fifth candidate to join the presidential race and the only male candidate. He was a retired Garda and victims' rights campaigner. [7] He also received the nominations of five county councils: Carlow, Clare, Kildare, South Dublin and Wexford. [8]

Result

1997 Irish presidential election [9]
CandidateNominated by % 1st PrefCount 1Count 2
Mary McAleese Oireachtas: Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats 45.2574,424706,259
Mary Banotti Oireachtas: Fine Gael 29.3372,002497,516
Dana Rosemary Scallon County and City Councils 13.8175,458
Adi Roche Oireachtas: Labour Party, Democratic Left and Green Party 6.988,423
Derek NallyCounty and City Councils4.759,529
Electorate: 2,688,316  Valid: 1,269,836  Spoilt: 9,852 (0.7%)  Quota: 634,919  Turnout: 47.6%
First preference vote
McAleese
45.2%
Banotti
29.3%
Scallon
13.8%
Roche
7.0%
Nally
4.7%
Final percentage
McAleese
55.6%
Banotti
39.2%

Results by constituency

First count votes [10]
ConstituencyBanottiMcAleeseNallyRocheScallon
Carlow–Kilkenny 11,96219,9493,0402,9365,177
Cavan–Monaghan 9,29921,7491,1221,3736,346
Clare 8,35317,9701,6371,8895,095
Cork East 8,85915,5981,0633,4444,450
Cork North-Central 8,34814,3221,1944,8083,742
Cork North-West 8,21413,0867762,2913,567
Cork South-Central 12,60919,4101,8945,4344,461
Cork South-West 8,80812,6168252,2083,016
Donegal North-East 3,31311,0085757485,136
Donegal South-West 3,95811,0605458265,025
Dublin Central 6,8649,2261,1751,6052,920
Dublin North 10,16112,5991,2911,9183,364
Dublin North-Central 10,78912,9491,3421,9464,044
Dublin North-East 8,72810,1321,1141,7702,890
Dublin North-West 7,8069,9101,1801,7693,037
Dublin South 18,76616,0531,9902,5895,360
Dublin South-Central 10,90010,6361,3751,9093,636
Dublin South-East 12,6929,3381,0561,8853,403
Dublin South-West 8,87910,3661,5391,8333,384
Dublin West 8,96510,6781,5041,6753,363
Dún Laoghaire 18,41514,3101,6322,6964,882
Galway East 7,35215,9791,0761,2855,044
Galway West 9,49516,7071,4372,0125,320
Kerry North 5,26610,7536893,0393,367
Kerry South 5,38411,5867782,0753,162
Kildare North 7,6579,4961,2421,4833,101
Kildare South 6,0529,2041,0391,4262,372
Laois–Offaly 10,87820,3981,7392,0906,188
Limerick East 11,52915,0801,7142,2354,998
Limerick West 6,99911,8238861,2013,722
Longford–Roscommon 8,21215,6541,4561,1596,175
Louth 7,32216,3561,2281,9834,337
Mayo 10,92321,1741,3481,6666,601
Meath 11,33818,5841,4872,1235,898
Sligo–Leitrim 7,90916,1621,0441,6705,290
Tipperary North 7,54713,3161,5502,1583,802
Tipperary South 6,92811,8658324,1873,092
Waterford 8,24315,7691,4062,2293,887
Westmeath 5,96910,6531,1601,5613,770
Wexford 8,77916,7137,4052,4154,061
Wicklow 11,53214,1872,1442,8744,973
Total372,002574,42459,52988,423175,458
Second count result [11]
ConstituencyBanottiMcAleese
Votes%Votes%
Carlow–Kilkenny 16,47440.5%24,29559.5%
Cavan–Monaghan 12,15931.9%26,01568.1%
Clare 11,54234.7%21,76665.3%
Cork East 12,20538.9%19,21861.1%
Cork North-Central 12,20140.3%18,13959.7%
Cork North-West 10,68740.4%15,82559.6%
Cork South-Central 17,02141.1%24,43758.9%
Cork South-West 11,32643.0%15,05657.0%
Donegal North-East 4,84425.6%14,11374.4%
Donegal South-West 5,57328.4%14,06071.6%
Dublin Central 9,14044.7%11,34955.3%
Dublin North 13,01346.3%15,14953.7%
Dublin North-Central 13,90346.8%15,84353.2%
Dublin North-East 11,11447.4%12,37452.6%
Dublin North-West 10,33746.0%12,18054.0%
Dublin South 23,43654.3%19,77945.7%
Dublin South-Central 13,88751.4%13,18248.6%
Dublin South-East 15,70357.6%11,56842.4%
Dublin South-West 11,73447.6%12,92052.4%
Dublin West 11,84847.4%13,19952.6%
Dún Laoghaire 22,74556.3%17,67843.7%
Galway East 10,00334.2%19,31865.8%
Galway West 12,97438.9%20,41861.1%
Kerry North 7,94237.0%13,54663.0%
Kerry South 7,63135.2%14,10964.8%
Kildare North 10,20946.6%11,74153.4%
Kildare South 7,97642.0%11,03958.0%
Laois–Offaly 14,48537.0%24,76163.0%
Limerick East 15,20845.2%18,49354.8%
Limerick West 9,08238.9%14,27761.1%
Longford–Roscommon 11,21636.5%19,55563.5%
Louth 10,01534.0%19,52766.0%
Mayo 14,34336.0%25,55164.0%
Meath 15,02640.2%22,43059.8%
Sligo–Leitrim 10,72935.1%19,91264.9%
Tipperary North 10,37538.8%16,37361.2%
Tipperary South 10,12940.3%15,06559.7%
Waterford 11,07037.2%18,76062.8%
Westmeath 8,36238.6%13,34761.4%
Wexford 14,14339.1%22,06460.9%
Wicklow 15,70646.9%17,82853.1%
Total497,51639.2%706,25955.6%

Footnotes

  1. The Progressive Democrats helped formally nominate McAleese
  2. Democratic Left helped formally nominate Roche
  3. The Green Party helped formally nominate Roche

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References

  1. The powers and functions of the president were exercised and performed by the Presidential Commission from the resignation of Mary Robinson on 12 September until the inauguration of Mary McAleese on 11 November.
  2. O'Sullivan, Roddy (16 September 1997). "Two weeks for nominations". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  3. "McAleese's candidacy endorsed by PDs". The Irish Times . 24 September 1997. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  4. Hogan, Dick (16 September 1997). "Champion of Chernobyl victims to run for Presidency". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  5. "Charity workers stand by criticism of Roche". 22 September 1997. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  6. Newman, Christine (17 September 1997). "Dana promises a people's campaign for Presidency". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  7. "Derek Nally - an arresting candidate". BBC News . 29 October 1997. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  8. "Four more councils agree to give Nally nomination". The Irish Times. 30 September 1997. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  9. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 34. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  10. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  11. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 36. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.