Smith to top the Ballyjamesduff poll

 

The first seat in the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District will almost certainly got to Fine Gael as the tallies show debutante candidate Trevor Smith has exceeded the projected quota by around 200 votes.

 

With nine candidates seeking the six seats this is the least difficult to predict after the first round tallies.

If those tallies are accurate Sinn Fein will no longer be representated in the Ballyjamesduff MD.

 

Last time out Noel Connell topped the pole with 1,753. The Mountnugent candidate saw his numbers crash to 790 in this election. Pundits may point to party colleague, Geraldine Harten, who pick up 461 votes and Aontas candidate, Grainne McPhilips, who amassed 755 in the search for the missing votes.

 

In topping the pole this time Smith will emulate the achievement of his father, Paddy, who did the same in 2004. The breakdown of the boxes meant it was an anxious time for some of the candidates as there was little between them with the final boxes to be totted up, however

 

The transfer of votes may shake things up, however in the narrow field it's not as difficult a prediction as the other two Municipal Districts. The face value call is that there will be an even split of seats between the two main parties with Fine Gael's Winston Bennett, TP O'Reilly and Trevor Smith and Fianna Fáil's Philip Brady, Craig Lovett and Shane P O'Reilly all taking seats on the next council

 

 

The numbers are:

 

Bennett, Winston: 1,458

 

Brady, 'The Gunner' Philip: 1,315

 

Connell, Noel: 790

 

Geraldine Harten: 461

 

Lovett, Craig: 1,281

 

McPhilips, Gráinne: 755

 

O'Reilly, Shane: 1,663

 

O'Reilly, TP: 1,561

 

Smith, Trevor: 1,797

For the latest updates, check out our election blog throughout the weekend:

https://www.anglocelt.ie/elections/roundup/articles/2019/05/24/4174595-live-election-blog-2019/