General Election: Pearse Doherty says Sinn Féin 'the people's choice in Donegal'

Pearse Doherty insists that Sinn Féin want to lead the next government with the party having taken 42 per cent of the first preferences here in Donegal.

The Gweedore man will comfortably top the poll when the results of the first count in the Donegal constituency is confirmed this afternoon in Letterkenny.

Tally figures show Doherty on 19,213 votes - well ahead of the 12,959 quota - while Padraig Mac Lochlainn has taken 9,879 votes and Councillor Noel Jordan could be in the running for the fifth seat.

“It’s fantastic to see Sinn Féin’s vote holding up so well in the county,” Doherty told Donegal Live.

“Absolutely delighted. We had a seismic election four-and-a-half years ago where Sinn Fein took a massive vote.

“That has now happened again so it is clear that we are the peoples’ choice in Donegal. I am very humbled at the people who came out and gave me their number 1 vote right across Donegal. It’s fantastic.”

Sinn Fein and Fianna Fáil are poised to elect two TDs in Donegal with Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher expected to regain the seat he lost in 2020 and Charlie McConalogue, the sitting Minister for Agriculture, both set to be returned to Dail Eireann.

Sinn Fein remain hopeful that Jordan could edge out Independent TD Thomas Pringle and 100% Redress party candidate Charles Ward.

Doherty said: “The third seat was always going to be a major challenge for us. It was always going to come down to transfers. 

“We have Noel polling well so we will have to see how the transfers go. It is clear that he is ahead of John McNulty, for example, so it will be interesting to see how the transfers play out.

“The big unknown was the 100% Redress candidate and we didn’t know how they would fare. They’ve done well and are definitely in the hunt for a seat. I wouldn’t rule them out at all. 

“In the face of that, Sinn Fein has held a strong vote and that is really positive for us. The people in Donegal want change and that is why people came out in their thousands. Their message is very clear.”

The Sinn Fein deputy leader says his party wants to lead the government of the 34th Dail and aim to have garnered the most first preferences across the country.

He said: “The exit poll showed that we won the popular vote. That is for the second election in a row. That message is a clear signal to other political parties that the people of the country want Sinn Fein in government and that is our intention. 

“That is what we will try to do when the seats are filled.  We will sit down and look at the numbers and see if we can form a government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. That is what we promised the people and that is what we will try to deliver. 

Read next: Live updates: All the latest from the Donegal constituency election count

“We had a very bruising local election and the European election was the same in some parts of the State. We listened to what people said to us and we responded with very strong policy-focussed solutions to what change looks like - and people responded to us too. 

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael clubbed together to try and stop change. The question now is will other parties of the left scramble to try and keep those two parties in power or is there a possibility of an alternative government.”