No Irish candidates in the EU race have been confirmed, results may take days

Counting for the European elections in Ireland ended on Sunday evening with no candidates confirmed as elected.

Multiple recounts of paper votes by hand mean that the final results may not be known for several days.

Before closing for the night, officials announced an initial count for the four-seater Dublin constituency. Barry Andrews of Fianna Fail/Renew and Regina Doherty of

Fine Gael (EPP) will likely take a seat, while several candidates across the spectrum will fight for the final two seats. Contenders include Green MEP Ciaran Cuffe and Claire Daly of The Left.

Announcements of first counts will only be made tomorrow for Ireland’s other two constituencies.

However, In Ireland South, MEPs Seán Kelly of Fine Gael and Billy Kelleher are polling strongly.

MEPs Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (The Left) and Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh are expected to retain their seats in the’ Midlands-North-West’ constituency.

Local elections

The country also voted in local elections, counted mainly by Sunday evening.

The two main governing parties – Prime Minister Simon Harris’ Fine Gael (EPP) and Fianna Fail (Renew) – performed strongly, with the pair set to take first and second place between them.

Conversely, the main opposition party, Sinn Fein (The Left), has underperformed.

The governing parties’ success and the opposition’s weakness triggered speculation that the government might call an early national election. Elections must be held by the end of March 2025 at the latest.

However, Harris said that his position on an early national election “hasn’t changed.” Harris previously stated that he wanted the government to run for its full term.

(Donagh Cagney| Euractiv.com)

Read more with Euractiv

Belgium's Eurosceptic parties maintain EU seat count, as liberals do well

The Eurosceptic parties Vlaams Belang and N-VA have won around a third of the vote in the European elections with around 14% each, giving the far-right ID and ECR a combined six seats out of Belgium’s 22 in the European Parliament.