A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Wexford constituency in Ireland on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace to the European Parliament.
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| Turnout | 40,382 (35.3%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.png) Wexford shown within Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It was held on the same day as three other by-elections in Cork North-Central, Dublin Fingal and Dublin Mid-West.[1] The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011 stipulates that a by-election in Ireland must be held within six months of a vacancy occurring.[2] The by-election writ was moved in the Dáil on 7 November 2019.[3][4]
At the 2016 general election, the electorate of Wexford was 109,861, and the constituency elected one Labour Party TD, one Fianna Fáil TD, one I4C TD and two Fine Gael TDs.[5]
The election was won by Wexford County Councillor Malcolm Byrne of Fianna Fáil.[6] Andrew Bolger was co-opted to Byrne's seat on Wexford County Council following his election to the Dáil.
Three of the candidates were sitting Wexford County Councillors; Malcolm Byrne, Jim Codd and George Lawlor. Johnny Mythen was a former Wexford County Councillor while Melissa O'Neill was a former Kilkenny County Councillor.
This was the first occasion the Irish Freedom Party contested any national election as a registered political party and, alongside Cork North-Central, the first time Aontú contested by-elections.
Byrne subsequently lost his seat at the February 2020 general election. His defeat after only 71 days made him the TD with the second-shortest term of service.[7] Byrne was subsequently elected to the Seanad in April 2020, with Mythen and Murphy being elected to the Dáil in the 2020 general election.[8]
Result
edit| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Fianna Fáil | Malcolm Byrne | 31.2 | 12,506 | 12,660 | 13,082 | 14,729 | 18,830 | |
| Fine Gael | Verona Murphy | 23.8 | 9,543 | 9,620 | 9,943 | 10,836 | ||
| Labour | George Lawlor | 20.0 | 8,024 | 8,112 | 8,517 | 10,907 | 14,476 | |
| Sinn Féin | Johnny Mythen | 10.3 | 4,125 | 4,344 | 4,665 | |||
| Green | Karin Dubsky | 6.2 | 2,490 | 2,745 | 3,037 | |||
| Aontú | Jim Codd | 5.2 | 2,102 | 2,395 | ||||
| People Before Profit | Cinnamon Blackmore | 1.6 | 659 | |||||
| Irish Freedom | Melissa O'Neill | 1.2 | 489 | |||||
| Independent | Charlie Keddy | 0.3 | 130 | |||||
| Electorate: 114,483 Valid: 40,068 Spoilt: 314 (0.8%) Quota: 20,035 Turnout: 40,382 (35.3%) | ||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Four by-elections likely to take place in November". RTÉ News. 17 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Writs moved for four Dáil by-elections". RTÉ News. 7 November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 7 November 2019: Wexford By-election: Issue of Writ". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ "Wexford – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Wexford – By Election: 29 November 2019". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "Labour hits rock bottom and the second-shortest serving TD ever: 6 election records made this year". thejournal.ie. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ "33rd DÁIL GENERAL ELECTION 8 February 2020 Election Results" (PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.