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LONDON – Michael Higgins won a second term as Irish President on Saturday. He won every election in an election marked by low turnout.
Higgins, 77, won 55.8 percent of the vote in Friday's vote, which was contested by six candidates. The share of the votes was just below the 56.3% record received by the leader of independence, Eamon de Valera, in a first leg in 1959.
The Irish Independent newspaper estimated voter turnout was below 45%, the lowest ever recorded for a presidential election.
"The Presidency does not belong to one person but to the Irish people," said Higgins after arriving at Dublin Castle with his wife Sabina. "I will be a president for everyone, for those who voted for me and those who did not vote."
Voters also overwhelmingly supported the elimination of the blasphemy offense of the Irish constitution. This was the last of a series of measures that saw the vast number of Roman Catholic countries move away from the influence of religion on the government.
The vote was controversial only in the second place of businessman Peter Casey, who won 23.3% of the vote after criticizing the community of Travelers, a traditionally itinerant ethnic group, and asserting that Ireland had a culture of welfare dependency.
Outgoing Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina voted at the Pheonix Park, Dublin, Ireland polling station on Friday, October 26, 2018. Six candidates vie for the ceremonial president's seat, with over 3.2 million vote and the results expected over the next weekend. (Niall Carson / PA via AP) (Associated Press)
Casey's support had been as low as 1% before the comments, but had gone up after. Casey said he was arguing for the "average Ireland", people who have trouble paying their bills and getting into the housing market.
"The real reason I had a bump in the polls, is because I spoke and said the center of Ireland," Casey said. "It's the people who are suffering, it's the people who have not taken anything out of the last budget and who pay all the bills."
The Irish president is the head of state, but his work is essentially ceremonial in the parliamentary democracy led by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
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