Irish leader suggests referendum on Presidential Election process to come

The Taoiseach told reporters that the Oireachtas [Parliament] may have to look at changing the process by which a person gets on the ballot.

Martin described the current process as "restrictive" in the wake of Catherine Connolly’s resounding victory this weekend.

While Connolly won by a historic margin, securing 63% of the vote, there was also another record broken, which reflects poorly on the current system.

More people spoiled their votes than ever on Friday, meaning 12.9% of the ballots were invalid.

Martin said, as per TheJournal.ie: "It’s a worry, because I think, first of all, people are entitled to vote, people are entitled not to vote, and I suppose people are entitled in our system to spoil their votes."

President Catherine Connolly.

He added that this would need to be interpreted.

The Fianna Fáil leader continued: "I think there’s probably an issue with the restrictive nature of how one gets on the ballot, and that’s something that, collectively, the Oireachtas can look at."

A "spoil the vote" campaign was mainly orchestrated by supporters of conservative campaigner Maria Steen, who failed to get the required 20 nominations to get on the ballot.

This campaign encouraged people to spoil their votes in protest at the nomination process. 

The current nomination process requires presidential candidates to get at least 20 Oireachtas members or four local councils to back them, in order to be on the ballot paper.

Changing this process would require a referendum.

Martin explained: "Ultimately, that’s the only way you could do it", adding that it would need "some work between the political parties in the intervening period".

The total number of spoiled votes this year amounted to 213,738 and while it didn’t affect the outcome of the election, there was a clear sign of discontent in certain areas.

Many had an "X" or slash drawn through all three candidates, or the words "spoiled" or "spoilt" written on the slip.

There were also a significant number of spoiled votes with anti-Government messages, including "no democracy", "EU puppets" and "no from me".

Maria Steen’s name also appeared on a number of the slips.

In some parts of Dublin City, the number of spoiled votes even surpassed the number of votes for Heather Humphreys.

Heather Humphreys.

There was a 46% turnout on Friday, which is an improvement on the 44% in 2018.

However, in 2018, there were only 18,438 invalid ballots, which is a stark contrast to this year’s tally.

Aside from Steen, there were plenty of others who also dropped out before the deadline upon seeing that they were not getting the required nominations.

Bertie Ahern, Joanna Donnelly, Nick Delehanty and Michael Flatley all withdrew early on when it was clear they weren’t getting the support they needed.

Another who failed to get the required support was millionaire entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan.

The pharma tycoon received the backing of two county councils but failed to reach the total of four to become a candidate.

Conor McGregor was a high-profile campaigner but his bid was never taken too seriously and he failed to get a single nomination before dropping out.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.