Tallies: Canney looks set to top Galway East poll

The full tally has been completed in Galway East and it looks as if independent candidate Sean Canney will top the poll and get elected to Dail Eireann at his second attempt.

But the same certainty does not apply to sitting TD Paul Connaughton of Fine Gael who will be struggling to retain his seat and could be eclipsed by party colleague Deputy Ciaran Cannon.

And it looks as if Labour’s Lorraine Higgins could once again decide the outcome of this election as she did back in 2011 when her transfers elected her then colleague Colm Keaveney, who is now a member of Fianna Fail.

Keveney’s seat is also in serious doubt as he did not poll as well as expected and the Fianna Fail seat could well go to Portumna’s Anne Rabbitte.

There are three seats up for grabs in the constituency which was a four-seater in 2011 and at this stage it looks one Fianna Fail, one Fine Gael and one independent.

There was a 63% turnout in the constituency with the Fine Gael vote down a massive 10%.

The results of the tally are:
Sean Canney (Ind) 8360
Ciaran Cannon (FG) 6764
Anne Rabbitte (FF) 6602
Paul Connaughton (FG) 6177
Colm Keaveney (5250
Lorraine Higgins (Lab) 4324
Annemarie Roche (SF) 2577
Michael Fahy (Ind) 2297
Mairead Ni Chroinin (GP) 717
Aengus Melia (DDI) 516