Which parties/groupings control the City and County Councils?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 23rd June 2014

A month has now passed since the holding of the 2014 Local and European elections and the spoils of victory have now been fought over and divided in most cases (although the first meeting of Monaghan County Council does not take place until this evening). But which parties or groupings have fared the best in terms of the division of these spoils? And could the patterns emerging in terms of the alliances formed to garner control of different councils pose some hints as to which parties or groupings may come together at the national level to form the next government after the next Dail/general election (probably in Autumn 2015). Continue reading →

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Papering Over The Cracks? Fine Gael’s performance at the May 23rd elections

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 16th June 2014

Fine Gael got lucky on a number of accounts at the May 23rd elections. Continue reading →

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Their Day Has Come? Reviewing Sinn Fein’s Local and European elections performances

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 12th June 2014

Apart from the successes associated with the Independents and Others groupings, there is no doubt that Sinn Fein were the big winners in the May 23rd 2014 elections, winning seats in each of the European constituencies (having held no European Parliament seat in the Republic of Ireland coming into the May 23rd contest) and coming very close to trebling their level of representation at the local authority level (increasing their number of City and County Council seats from 54 to 157 between 2009 and 2014). Continue reading →

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(Non) Party On? A review of the electoral performance of Independent candidates on May 23rd

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 11th June 2014

Figure 1: Support (%) for Independent/Non Party candidates at the local authority level in the 2014 Local Elections

Figure 1: Support (%) for Independent/Non Party candidates at the local authority level in the 2014 Local Elections

The May 23rd elections were always going to be good elections for the Non Party/Independent candidates grouping. Continue reading →

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Perspectives on the Ballybay-Clones electoral area

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 4th June 2014

The sudden death on Election Day of Fine Gael County Councillor, Owen Bannigan – Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam – lead to the cancellation of the local election vote for the Ballybay-Clones electoral area in Co. Monaghan. The election for this electoral area will now take place on Saturday 7th June 2014 between 8.00am and 10.00pm. Eleven candidates will now contest this electoral area – one more than the number that were to contest the constituency on May 23rd – with the nine originally nominated candidates being now joined by Cllr. Bannigan’s son, Eugene (who is running for Fine Gael) and an independent candidate, Joseph Duffy. Continue reading →

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Labouring in Vain? The Labour Party’s performance at the May 23rd elections

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 3rd June 2014 

The 1985 Local Elections saw a Labour Party – which was part of a coalition government with Fine Gael – fare poorly, with its national share of the vote dropping to just over seven percent and with its position as the leading left wing party being usurped by a major contender for this position, namely the Workers Party. The 2014 Local Elections saw a Labour Party – which was part of a coalition government with Fine Gael – fare poorly, with its national share of the vote dropping to just over seven percent and with its position as the leading left wing party being usurped by a major contender for this position, namely Sinn Fein. Continue reading →

Posted in by-election, Connacht-Ulster, Dublin, Leinster, Local Elections 2014, Munster | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Turnout or Turned Off? A Geographical Review of Voter Turnout patterns at the 2014 Local Elections

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 3rd June 2014 

Figure 1: Voter turnout (%) at the local authority level at the 2014 Local Elections

The elections of May 23rd 2014 saw the second lowest turnout levels for local election contests in the history of the state – with only the turnout levels at the 1999 contests being lower. This marked a disappointing reversal of the general trend in turnout levels at general and local election contests in the 2000s, which saw a marked improvement on participation at the very low turnout contests of the 1999 Local and European Election and the 2002 General Election. Continue reading →

Posted in Connacht-Ulster, Dublin, Local Elections 2014, Voter turnout | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How far Left? People Before Profit Alliance and Anti Austerity Alliance/Socialist Party at the May 23rd elections

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 31st May 2014

Figure 1: Support levels at the local authority level (%) for the People Before Profit Alliance at the 2014 Local Elections

Figure 1: Support levels at the local authority level (%) for the People Before Profit Alliance at the 2014 Local Elections

The 2014 Local Elections were good elections in general for the smaller left of centre groupings, but especially for the two largest parties/alliances within these groupings – the People Before Profit Alliance and the Anti Austerity Alliance. Both of these won 14 seats on different City or County Councils across the state, leaving them with the fifth joint largest representation levels of any party/grouping at the local authority level across the state. Continue reading →

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Fianna Fail at the 2014 elections: Something done, a lot more to do…

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 30th May 2014

Figure 1: Fianna Fail support (%) at the local authority level at the 2014 Local Elections

There was some good news for Fianna Fail at last weekend’s elections; emerging as the largest party at a local authority level in the state (with 266 seats) and faring especially well in certain parts of the state. However, party support levels remained weak in other parts of the state, the party failed to win seats at either of the two by-elections and the European Elections contests proved to be a significant disappointment. Continue reading →

Posted in by-election, Dublin, European Elections, Local Elections 2014 | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Tally Ho! Which local newspapers published election tallies this year?

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Adrian Kavanagh

Adrian Kavanagh, 29th May 2014

As an electoral geographer, I am very interested in which local newspapers are publishing local election tallies in this week’s editions, or possibly in the following few weeks’ editions. When I refer to tallies/tally sheets I am of course not referring to election results or count details, but instead referring to documents that can show the number of votes each candidate won in each polling box in a constituency or electoral area. These can give a very accurate sense then as to the geography of a party/candidates’s votes within a particular constituency. These are the very lifeblood of Irish electoral geography. Continue reading →

Posted in Tally figures | Tagged | 6 Comments