In the Irish presidential election of 1952, the second held since the creation of the office in 1937, the outgoing president, Seán T. O'Kelly decided to seek a second term. No party opposed him, though independent satirist Eoin (the Pope) O'Mahony tried and failed to be nominated. With only one nominated candidate, O'Kelly was re-elected without the need to hold a poll.

Result

See also

References

The Irish presidential election determines who serves as the President of Ireland; the head of state of the Republic of Ireland. The most recent election took place on 27 October 2011.

Overview

Presidential elections are conducted in line with Article 12 of the Constitution and under the Presidential Elections Act 1993, as amended. The President of Ireland is formally elected by the citizens of Ireland once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days. Constitutionally, the election must be held not more than 60 days before the ending of the term of office of the incumbent, or within 60 days of the office becoming vacant. The exact date will be fixed by an order made by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Elections are conducted by means of the alternative vote (also called instant-runoff voting), which is the single-winner analogue of the single transferable vote used in other Irish elections. Although the constitution calls the system "proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote", a single-winner election cannot be proportional. All Irish citizens entered on the current electoral register are eligible to vote. While both Irish and UK citizens resident in the state may vote in elections to Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament), only Irish citizens of at least eighteen years of age may vote in the election of the President.

The Irish presidential election of 2004 was set for 22 October 2004. However, nominations closed at noon on 1 October and the incumbent president, Mary McAleese, who had nominated herself in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, was the only person nominated. Accordingly, she was re-elected for a second seven-year term of office without the need to hold an election. This was the third time a president was returned unopposed, following Seán T. O'Kelly in 1952, and Patrick Hillery in 1983. McAleese was re-inaugurated on 11 November 2004.

Party positions

Fianna Fáil

The Fianna Fáil party supported its former candidate, Mary McAleese, in her bid for a second term. Technically, however, McAleese nominated herself rather than seek a nomination from Fianna Fáil.

Fine Gael

The Fine Gael party also supported Mary McAleese's bid for a second term.

Labour Party

In early 2003, the Labour Party said that the party would run a candidate, irrespective of the attitudes of other parties, and even in the event of the president seeking a second term. But party leader Pat Rabbitte appeared less committed during a television interview in November 2003, pointing out that all the party's attentions were focused on the two Irish elections already set for 2004, the European Parliament election and the local elections to be held on 11 June 2004. Following the significant losses of the ruling Fianna Fáil party in these elections, Labour Party sources suggested the presidential election should not be contested if it were to allow a decisive Fianna Fáil victory so soon after earlier election woes. Possible candidates were:

The Irish presidential election of 2011 was the thirteenth presidential election to be held in Ireland, and the first to be contested by a record seven candidates. It was held on Thursday, 27 October 2011. The election was held to elect a successor to Mary McAleese, with the winner scheduled to be inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland on 11 November 2011. Two constitutional referendums and a by-election for a vacant Dáil seat in the Dublin West constituency took place on the same day.

The seven candidates were Mary Davis, Seán Gallagher, Michael D. Higgins, Martin McGuinness, Gay Mitchell, David Norris and Dana Rosemary Scallon. Davis, Gallagher, Norris and Scallon (all running as Independents), secured their nominations via local authorities. Higgins was put forward by Labour, McGuinness was put forward by Sinn Féin and Mitchell was put forward by Fine Gael. The previously dominant Fianna Fáil party declined to put forward an official candidate following their disastrous general election campaign earlier that year. Norris, a civil rights campaigner credited with helping overthrow Ireland's laws criminalising homosexuality, was the leading candidate for much of the race, and had more than double the support of the other declared candidates in January 2011. He withdrew in August 2011 but returned to the race the following month due to his continuing widespread popular appeal.