Presidential election
Ireland has voted: left-wing candidate wins
Updated 10/25/2025 – 8:53 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The candidate Catherine Connolly, supported by a left-wing alliance, is the new president of Ireland. But there is also a downer.
Left-wing coalition-backed candidate Catherine Connolly has been declared winner of Ireland’s presidential election. According to official information, the 68-year-old lawyer received more than 63 percent of the votes.
Her only competitor, Heather Humphreys of the ruling center-right Fine Gael party, congratulated Connolly even before a final result was available. “I would like to congratulate Catherine on becoming the next President of Ireland,” Humphreys said. She added that Connolly will be a president for all and that she wishes her the best.
Prime Minister Micheal Martin also did not wait for the official result to express his congratulations. It is clear that Connolly will be the next president of Ireland, he wrote on X.
She will be the third woman to hold the highest office in the Republic of Ireland, after Mary Robinson (1990-1997) and Mary McAleese (1997-2011). She succeeds the 84-year-old incumbent, Michael D. Higgins, who served two terms at Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish President’s residence in Dublin.
The independent candidate Connolly was supported by left-wing parties such as Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and the Greens. Connolly is considered a progressive politician who wants to unite rather than divide. The politician speaks fluent Gaelic and supports the unification of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Nevertheless, it is not without controversy. In recent weeks she has been criticized for comparing current German defense spending with the rearmament of the 1930s. The downer is that a large number of ballot papers were reportedly invalidated in protest at the lack of additional candidates.
Several conservative figures had previously called on voters to cast invalid ballots in protest. Apparently many people followed this call; the media reported that 13 percent of votes were invalid. Many of them were labeled with messages against immigration or slogans such as “no democracy”. The voter turnout was therefore less than 40 percent in many polling stations. Polls show that 49 percent of voters felt neither Connolly nor Humphreys represented them.
The election campaign was primarily characterized by prominent withdrawals and cancellations. Former Dublin football coach Jim Gavin, briefly considered favorite, unexpectedly withdrew at the beginning of October after a “personal misstep” in connection with a real estate affair. Several world-famous Irish people – including Riverdance legend Michael Flatley, musician Bob Geldof and the controversial martial artist Conor McGregor – were temporarily considered candidates, but an official candidacy did not materialize.
Similar to Germany, the office of Irish President is largely characterized by representative tasks. However, the head of state plays an important role as a moral authority. It is expected that Connolly will be able to fill this role in a similar way to her predecessor Higgins.
