Micheal McDowell first candidate elected to new Seanad

MICHEAL MCDOWELL HAS become the first candidate to be elected to new Seanad. The Independent Senator was re-elected to the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel on the first count just before midnight. Out of a valid poll of 36,114, the NUI panel had a quota of 9,029.

McDowell received 11,390 first preference votes. His surplus of some 2,361 votes will be distributed from 10am. At the Trinity College count, no candidate reached the quota after the first count and the lowest ranked candidate, Abbas Ali O’Shea, was eliminated and his votes will be redistributed.



Counting there will resume at 9am. Counting in the Seanad elections got underway yesterday at Trinity College and at the RDS in Dublin following a lengthy campaign. Senators and would-be senators had been canvassing TDs, councillors and graduates from the NUI and Trinity College of Dublin since early December Senators are elected by graduates of some universities to two out of the seven panels in the Seanad, and there are three seats each for Trinity and for NUI.

The other five panels are designed to give political representation to different groups and sectors within Irish society..