Sinn Fein MEP win sends 'message' to Irish government
(DUBLIN) - Anti-austerity Sinn Fein have emerged as the major winners in the Irish European parliament elections, while a recount will commence Wednesday to fill the last of Ireland's 11 MEP seats.
Far left, euro-critical, Sinn Fein won a seat in each of the three Irish constituencies for the first time in the party's history.
First-time candidate Matt Carthy took the third seat in the Midlands North West constituency late on Tuesday night.
He said the results send a "very strong message" to the government.
"It's about policies that are crippling our communities, causing hardship in too many Irish families," he told reporters in Castlebar after he was elected.
"The message from the electorate is: the people want change."
Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson also topped the poll in Northern Ireland giving the party a historic four MEP seats on the island of Ireland.
It was a different story for junior coalition partner Labour who suffered massive losses in Friday's local election vote and also failed to win a seat in the European elections.
That poor showing, and increased pressure from party backbenchers, spurred party leader and deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore to announce his resignation on Monday.
In 2011, Labour joined with Fine Gael as the junior partner in a coalition government tasked with fixing the country's broken economy.
The government was pressed to implement austerity measures to shore up its finances as part of a three-year international bailout programme.
Despite exiting the bailout in December, polls suggested voters were angry with Labour for not delivering on its pre-election promises.
Sinn Fein, who campaigned against the austerity and the EU's fiscal policies, also performed strongly in the local vote.
The party's success comes despite the controversy surrounding the arrest of party leader Gerry Adams as part of a police investigation into one of the most notorious murders of the sectarian Troubles.
Adams was released without charge earlier this month after four days of questioning by police investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in Belfast in 1972.
Elsewhere, the dominant government party, Fine Gael - who are aligned to the the conservative umbrella European People's Party (EPP) -- also performed strongly in the European Parliament vote, winning four seats.
In the South constituency, incumbent MEP Sean Kelly and party colleague Deirdre Clune were both elected on the 12th count on Tuesday evening.
In the Midlands North West, Fine Gael's Mairead McGuinness was also re-elected on Tuesday, with Matt Carthy taking the third seat.
After the eighth count was announced before midnight local time, a few hundred votes separated two sitting-MEPs battling it out for the fourth and final seat in the constituency.
Independent Marian Harkin led Fianna Fail's Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher by 275 votes but it was announced immediately that a full recount would commence on Wednesday morning at 0900 GMT.