Michael D Higgins the President elect of Ireland
Michael D Higgins, is the new President elect of Ireland.
The 2011 Irish Presidential election was one that had not been experienced before in terms of the number of candidates, the diversity of the CV’s of the candidates, the way the campaign was conducted and the general mud slinging that was fired from every direction and stuck on so many of the candidates that it was thrown at.
In no particular order David Norris, Mary Davis, Martin McGuinness and Sean Gallagher all suffered in one way or another. Dana even suggested that her campaign car may have been the victim of sabotage.
Emails were circulated of Michael D with a photo of the other candidates, with Higgins depicted as a diminutive leprechaun, comparatively, which in one way summed up the depths that anti Higgins campaigners had to stoop, to get at him. And despite talk of a dodgy knee, it was the former sociology lecturer at NUI Galway, who was the last man standing.
One of the best headlines in one of the papers, this morning after the results was – “Michael D-Day”.
Compared to the national story, it was Sean Gallagher who topped the poll in Donegal south west, while Martin McGuiness topped the poll in Donegal north east and came second in Donegal south west. Michael D topped the poll in Sligo North Leitrim.
