Dublin: Ireland has elected Michael D. Higgins as its ninth president with more than 1 million votes and a nearly 57 percent share of support, according to final returns.
Michael D. Higgins, a former culture minister from the country’s junior coalition partner, won victory over a reality TV judge and an ex-IRA commander.
His biggest rival, businessman and TV personality Sean Gallagher, came second. Ex-guerilla fighter Martin McGuiness from the Sinn Fein opposition party was in third place.
The campaign was full of personal mud-slinging between Higgins’ two opponents. Higgins himself was not involved.
Higgins announced he would resign immediately as president and member of the Labour Party, the junior member of Ireland’s coalition government, because his new role as ceremonial head of state meant he must be “a president for all the people.”
Higgins is a former university lecturer and published poet who has dedicated his four-decade political career to championing Irish culture and left-wing human rights causes worldwide. He is one of Ireland’s most instantly recognized politicians, in part, because of his 5-foot-4 (162.5-centimeter) stature and much-imitated high voice.
Saturday’s result capped a two-day count of ballots to determine who would succeed Mary McAleese, Ireland’s popular president since 1997.
Higgins’ victory was assured after partial results Friday gave him an unassailable lead versus six other candidates, all of whom conceded defeat long before the final result.
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