Irish critic of EU treaty faces near poll wipeout
(DUBLIN) - The leader of a group which spearheaded Ireland's rejection of the EU reform treaty last year was struggling Monday to get elected in EU polls, while his movement only won one seat across Europe.
Declan Ganley of Libertas, which led the "no" campaign last June that saw a shock 53.4 percent rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, trailed in fourth in the North West constituency with 14 percent first preference votes.
Analysts said it was unlikely the millionaire businessman-turned political activist will pick up sufficient transfers from other candidates under the proportional representation voting system to get the third seat.
Ganley had hoped he would be heading a pan-European Libertas party that would be a springboard for him to oppose the Lisbon Treaty in an expected second referendum in Ireland later this year.
But Libertas candidates in two other Irish constituencies have been hammered in the election. In Dublin, Libertas got 3.3 percent of the first preference vote and trailed in second to last of 10 candidates.
In the East constituency, Libertas got 4.3 percent of the first preferences, coming in seventh of 11 candidates.
Meanwhile, his party's headquarters in Brussels said that, of 532 candidates across Europe, only one -- veteran eurosceptic Philippe de Villiers in France -- had been elected.
"It is disappointing. But you have to understand that it is a very difficult project," said a press officer, adding that Libertas was a relatively new political group. He added it would release a statement in the next few days.
Ganley, who sought a re-check of two bin loads of votes, said he would "accept whatever the result is once all the votes are counted and the allocation is made from those candidates that are knocked out and their votes are re-allocated."
During the campaign, Ganley indicated he would not lead a new "No To Lisbon" campaign if he was not elected.
"That was my feeling at the time and I still feel that way, but let's see what happens," he told RTE state radio.
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