Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is on the brink of re-election to the European Parliament after moving to within 7,000 votes of the quota this morning. He's likely to secure his seat later today and the other four seats are expected to be filled tonight. Shannonside / Northern Sound reporter at the Castlebar count centre, Eoghan Murphy, reports:
After five days and around 70 hours of counting, we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in the Midlands Northwest constituency here in the TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar. Only eight of the 27 candidates remain in the race, with five seats up for grabs. Ming has moved to over 106,000 votes - compared to the quota of 113,000 - and could be elected on the next count, having been an MEP for the past 10 years. This 18th count involves the distribution of Sligo MEP Chris McManus's 36,000 votes - he was eliminated from the race on the 17th count and was devastated afterwards.
"I'm disappointed, obviously," Chris MacManus told Northern Sound, "We fought a good campaign, we left no stone un-turned. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be our day. I spent four hard years working in Brussels as an MEP doing my best for the west of Ireland. I had a good work rate, a good work ethic and, it would seem that, unfortunately, it wasn't to be for us in this case. I just hope," he continued, "that any transfers can help Michelle Gildernew and we can still be in the mix to retain the seat in Midlands North-West."
Meanwhile, Fine Gael's Maria Walsh and Nina Carberry, and Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowan, are sure of seats - they are all on between 84,000 and 87,000 votes. Ciaran Mullooly is in pole position for the fifth and final seat, leading Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew by nearly 18,000 votes. However, Gildernew is expected to take the majority of McManus's transfers, so the race is still on for the final seat.
