Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

2025 Irish presidential election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2025 Irish presidential election
Remove ads

The 2025 Irish presidential election is due to take place by 11 November 2025.[1][b] The election will determine the tenth president of the Republic of Ireland. The incumbent president, Michael D. Higgins, is term-limited, having served the maximum two terms permitted under the Constitution of Ireland.

Quick facts Nominee, Party ...
Remove ads

Procedure

Summarize
Perspective
Main article: Irish presidential election

Presidential elections are conducted in line with Article 12 of the Constitution[4] and under the Presidential Elections Act 1993.[5] The president is elected through instant-runoff voting (described in the constitution as proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote).[6] All Irish citizens entered on the current electoral register are eligible to vote.[4] The 2025 election will be the first presidential election since the 2023 establishment of the Electoral Commission.

Dates

The term of the incumbent, Michael D. Higgins, ends on 11 November 2025. Assuming Higgins does not die or leave office before then, the Constitution requires the election to be not more than 60 days before 11 November. The date of the election will be fixed by ministerial order of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Candidates may only be nominated after the making of the presidential election order, which will also specify a closing date for nominations.

More information Year, Ministerial order ...

Nominations

To stand for election as president of Ireland, candidates must:

  • be a citizen of Ireland
  • be at least 35 years of age
  • be nominated by:
    • at least 20 of the 234 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or
    • at least 4 of the 31 county or city councils, or
    • themselves, in the case of a former or retiring president who has served one 7-year term (currently only Mary Robinson).

If a member of the Oireachtas or a County or City council nominate more than one candidate, only the first nomination paper received from them will be deemed valid.[5] Under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011, there is a spending limit by each candidate of €750,000.[11] Candidates who are elected or who reach 12.5% of the vote on their elimination are entitled to a reimbursement of expenses up to €200,000.[12]

Remove ads

Campaign

Summarize
Perspective

Party selection

Fine Gael

Fine Gael leader Simon Harris confirmed in March that the party would nominate a candidate to contest the election.[13] Candidates required the nomination of 20 members of the parliamentary party, 25 party councillors, and 5 members of the executive council. Fine Gael opened nominations for selection as the party candidate on 7 July.

The nomination period closed at 4 p.m. on 15 July. Mairead McGuinness, former European commissioner and MEP, was the only candidate nominated. She was expected to be ratified at an event in September.[14][15]

McGuinness withdrew on 14 August 2025, following medical advice.[16]

Fianna Fáil

In July 2025, the leader of Fianna Fáil Micheál Martin stated that the party would not run a candidate unless that candidate "would command a very broad consensus or would have a realistic opportunity of getting a significant vote".[17]

Much media speculation has been surrounding Bertie Ahern's potential campaign,[18] [19] [20] [21] with most party supporters surveyed supporting his possible candidacy announcement.[22] [23]

Sinn Féin

On 12 July 2025, the leader of Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald stated that the party was considering its options on the presidential election and would arrive at a decision in a few weeks.[24]

Joint left-wing candidate

Throughout 2025, left-wing parties discussed running a jointly nominated candidate, with talks involving Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, the Greens, and People Before Profit. According to Paul Murphy, however, the viability of a unified bid depended on whether Sinn Féin opt to back a consensus choice or field its own candidate.[25]

On 11 July 2025, Catherine Connolly confirmed she would be running for president.[26] The Social Democrats (with 12 Oireachtas members) released a statement later that day stating they would be supporting Connolly.[27] People Before Profit (with 2 TDs), 100% Redress TD Charles Ward, independent TDs Séamus Healy and Brian Stanley and independent senator Eileen Flynn have also confirmed they will support Connolly; including her self-nomination, bringing Connolly to 19 of the 20 nominations required.[28][29]

On 31 July, following consultation with its membership, the Labour Party decided to support Connolly's candidacy. The support of Labour's 13 Oireachtas members cemented Connolly's nomination.[30] Before backing Connolly, Labour had considered Ivana Bacik,[31] Fergus Finlay,[32] Brendan Howlin[33] and Michael J. Ryan[34] as candidates.

Aontú

In April 2025 Aontú party leader Peadar Tóibín stated that the party would seek to nominate a candidate.[35] In July, Tóibín said Aontú would seek to create a "selection block" or a "nominating caucus" with other small parties and independents who would pick a candidate to represent them using a PR-STV vote.[36][37]

Remove ads

Candidates

Summarize
Perspective

A number of individuals have declared their intention to seek the necessary nominations to run in the election, and a number of political parties have declared their intention to nominate a candidate. The period for nomination of candidates has not yet opened.

Confirmed candidates

The following candidates have enough pledged nominations from Oireachtas members to stand for election.[38]

More information Party, Presidential candidate ...

Candidates seeking nomination

The following candidates have not yet acquired enough declared support for a nomination.

More information Party, Presidential candidate ...

Withdrawn candidates

More information Party, Presidential candidate ...

Potential candidates

Some other potential candidates have not ruled out seeking the necessary nominations to contest the election.

Fianna Fáil

Sinn Féin

Independent or multi-party

Declined candidates

Several potential candidates have declared that they will not seek to contest the election.

Fine Gael

Fianna Fáil

Sinn Féin

Aontú

Green Party

Social Democrats

Labour Party

Independent

Remove ads

Debates

In June 2025, RTÉ announced that it will host a number of programmes in the lead up to the election; Katie Hannon will be the presenter.[110]

Opinion polling

Polling prior to official nominations

More information Last date of polling, Polling firm ...
  1. Mary Lou McDonald 20%, Tony Holohan 15%
  2. Conor McGregor 6%
  3. Heather Humphreys 6%, Peter Casey 4%, Seán Kelly 4%, Barry Andrews 3%, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú 1%
  4. Fergus Finlay 8%, Lynn Ruane 4%, Alice-Mary Higgins 2%, Linda Martin 2%, Conor Murphy 1%
  5. Seán Kelly 5%
  6. Alice-Mary Higgins 2%
Remove ads

Notes

  2. Contingencies which might delay the election include the death of a nominated candidate[2] or the calling of a Dáil general election.[3]
  3. Poll cancelled because only one candidate was nominated, and returned unopposed.
  4. Eastwood is not a member of Fianna Fáil, but is being considered by the party.
  5. McDonald stated in March 2025 that she would not be the Sinn Féin nominee but in July 2025 stated the party was "not ruling anything out"[67].
  6. Duffy is not a member of a party, but was considered by Fianna Fáil and Labour.
  7. Burns is not a member of Sinn Féin, but was considered by the party.
  8. Wallace stated he would not seek to run if Catherine Connolly was in the running. When Connolly announced she was running in the election, Wallace endorsed her.[109]
Remove ads

References

External links

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads