It is just over one month until the Presidential Election.
It’s been officially decided that six names will appear on the ballot paper for the Presidential Election in October.
The candidates will be:
- Peter Casey (Independent)
- Gavin Duffy (Independent)
- Joan Freeman (Independent)
- Seán Gallagher (Independent)
- Michael D. Higgins (Independent)
- Liadh Ní Ríada (Sinn Féin)
This follows several weeks of campaigning, looking for nominations from County and City Councils across the country.
The successful candidates were joined by a number of other presidential hopefuls – such as journalist Gemma O’Doherty, Marilyn Monroe impersonator Sarah-Louise Mulligan and Roscommon farmer John Groarke – who never made it onto the ballot.
Just last week, artist Kevin Sharkey announced that he was withdrawing his presidential bid to work on his artwork and a new single.
This will be the second time that former Dragons’ Den businessman Seán Gallagher has run for the position.
The 56-year-old took second place behind Michael D. Higgins back in 2011, claiming 28.5% share of the vote, and some 200,000 first preference votes behind the current president.
Gallagher’s first bid came to an abrupt end back in 2011 when a Frontline debate which aired on RTÉ insinuated bogus claims about the businessman.
False tweets were read on air insinuating that Gallagher had collected a cheque from a businessman for Fianna Fáil to the tune of €5,000, changing public opinion almost instantly.
The broadcaster later apologised for the remarks.
Gallagher will go up against incumbent Michael D. Higgins for the second time on 26 October
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