The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WHILE researching a preview of how Clare would vote last week, it became obvious that even the closest observers of local politics weren’t sure where the county’s votes would go. Friday night’s exit polls showed that the country had voted heavily in favour of yes. Then when tallies from rural parts of Clare all showed strong support for repealing the Eighth Amendment, it became apparent on Saturday morning that Clare had also voted yes, and by a sizeable majority. As it turned out, Clare was very close to the national average in more ways than one. This county’s percentage turnout was 64.37%, while the national turnout was 64.13%. Clare voted yes by 64.28% to 35.72%. Ireland did so by 66.4% to 33.6%, showing this county was an accurate barometer for the country overall. Taking a long-term perspective one can see that Clare has become far more liberal on social issues. In the 1986 and 1995 referendums, large majorities of Clare …
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