Burke first past the post in Longford Westmeath Dáil race

Constituency elects first TD after day of counting

At 22:30 in Count John McCormack in Athlone the Returning Officer for the Longford Westmeath constituency, announced that the first count of the General Election 2024 was in.

As expected from the earlier tallies Fine Gael Minister Peter Burke was announced as the poll topper, with 10,864.

Deputy Peter Burke elected on first count

Deputy Burke exceed the quota of 10,315 to ensure a return to Dáil Eireann.

This is reflective of his success in the tallies where he received 10,860 of the total tallied votes, making up 17.7%

Next came Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy who hit 8,116, followed by Independent Kevin Moran on 8,056 and Longford’s Fine Gael Senator Micháel Carrigy netted 7,090, while Sorca Clarke’s 6,998 puts her in a good place to retain a seat.

Sitting TD Joe Flaherty (FF) is not completely out of the picture, with 5,231 first preferences, however it will require an extraordinary number of transfers to get back in place to jockey for a seat.

Counting resumes tomorrow morning at 9:00am, with the transfer of Deputy Burke's 549 votes.

The total electorate is 106,814, the total poll is 62,353, invalid votes numbered 469, leaving a valid poll of 61,884.