On Saturday morning, vote counting officially kicked off for two pivotal by-elections that will select two new Teachtaí Dála (TDs), or members of the Irish parliament, to fill vacant seats in Dáil Éireann. The contests are taking place across two constituencies: Dublin Central and Galway West, where voters cast their ballots the previous day.
The Dublin Central seat became vacant after former Fine Gael TD and ex-Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe stepped down to take up a senior leadership position at the World Bank. In Galway West, the by-election was triggered by the resignation of local TD Catherine Connolly, who was recently elected to the role of president of Dáil Éireann.
By-elections in Irish politics have long followed a well-established trend: sitting governing parties typically face a disadvantage, as voters often use these special contests to register dissatisfaction with the current administration’s performance. In Dublin Central, pre-count analysis had pegged candidates from the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin as the clear front-runners to claim the empty seat, and early tallies have done little to shift that projection.
After all ballot boxes were opened and tallied in Dublin Central, unofficial vote projections show Social Democrat candidate Daniel Ennis holding a narrow lead over Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan. Ennis has secured 19.6% of first-preference votes, according to preliminary tallies, while Boylan trails slightly at 17.7%. It is important to note that these early tallies only provide an indication of the initial count outcome, and the final result for both seats will depend heavily on the distribution of transferred votes from eliminated candidates, a key feature of Ireland’s single transferable vote system.
In Galway West, with fewer than half of all ballot boxes processed as of Saturday, the race is also shaping up to be extremely close. Independent Ireland candidate Noel Thomas holds a thin lead with 21.3% of first-preference votes, while Fine Gael’s Sean Kyne is just one percentage point behind at 20.2% in the preliminary counts. Counting is expected to continue through the day as officials work toward finalizing official results for both seats.