Tag Archives: 2020

FIANNA Fáil and Fine Gael are the Old Firm of Clare politics, but their dominance has definitely waned, and it may dip a little further this weekend. For decades the differences between the two parties have been regarded as very minor in ideological terms, and between them they won the vast majority of Clare votes in election after election. They are still likely to win a combined three seats in Saturday’s election, but the first preference percentage will be way below what once could have been expected. By the standards of 2020 it would be remarkable, but back in 1992 more people voted for Fianna Fáil candidates than all of the other entrants combined. In that year’s general election Clare had a total valid poll of 44,608 voters. Fianna Fáil took a massive 23,088 votes of those, almost 52% of the total. Fine Gael took another 11,440 number ones, giving them just shy of 26%, and the two centrist parties …

FOUR years on from the last general election, the Clare constituency has almost 10% more voters than it did in 2016. This time there are 91,120 people registered to vote, up from 82,965 last time. It is a very sharp increase, but besides a growing population, the redrawing of the electoral boundaries with Limerick has seen another 4,488 voters come into the constituency. The county is divided into five municipal districts for local government purposes. On Saturday there will be 40 ballot boxes in the Ennis Municipal District, 35 in the Shannon Municipal District, 32 in the Killaloe Municipal District, 43 in the Kilrush Municipal District and 29 in the Ennistymon Municipal District. The redrawing of the county’s borders helps Fianna Fáil’s Cathal Crowe, the Meelick man now having significantly more people in his local area who can vote for him. The feeling is that he will have enough votes to comfortably take a seat in his first general election. …