Ireland: Left-wing Catherine Connolly wins presidential election

Catherine Connolly has won Ireland's presidential election by a landslide, official results on Saturday showed.

Connolly, an independent candidate who was backed by the left-wing opposition, won over 64.7% of the vote, beating Heather Humphreys of the centrist Fine Gael party, who won 28.2%.

Jim Gavin, of the Fianna Fail party, came in third with just over 7%, although he had pulled out of the running earlier this month amid controversy over a rent payment scandal, leaving Connolly and Humphreys as the only viable candidates.

Gavin and Humphreys' parties rule with the Green Party in a coalition government.

Connolly will succeed Michael D Higgins, who completed two full terms after holding the largely ceremonial role since 2011.

Who is Ireland's new president Catherine Connolly?

Connolly, a 68-year-old lawmaker from Galway, built her campaign around messages of "peace," "unity," and "neutrality."

A fluent Irish speaker, she hails from the far-left of Ireland's political spectrum, and was endorsed by Sinn Fein, Labour, the Social Democrats and other left-leaning parties.

Connolly has been fiercely critical of the United States and the European Union, even though Ireland is overwhelmingly pro-EU.

She has voiced her opposition to increased military spending in the EU since the war in Ukraine began. Connolly has also compared defense spending in Germany to the 1930s.

Connolly has slammed the US, UK and France for their roles in the war in Gaza.

Some of her views on these issues are likely to place her at odds with Ireland's center-right government.

Voters express anger with all of Ireland's parties

The election was marred by a low voter turnout of 46.3%, while as many as one in eight voters submitted spoiled ballots, according to The Irish Times newspaper.

Right-wing figures had called on voters to spoil their ballots to protest at the dearth of conservative candidates in the race, as well as to demonstrate their frustration with issues such as immigration and crime.

Ireland has seen sometimes violent protests against the rising numbers of asylum seekers in the country, which is struggling with a severe housing crisis and rising homelessness.

Eoin O'Malley, a Dublin City University political science professor, told the AFP news agency that the election had effectively turned into a "referendum on the center-right government."

He explained that the high number of spoiled ballots "reflects a deep anger and dissatisfaction with all the parties, which refuse to discuss issues such as immigration."

Who else considered running?

Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor announced in September that he was withdrawing his bid for the presidency.

McGregor, a prominent voice in the country's anti-immigration movement, visited the White House in March as a guest of US President Donald Trump for St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

He was convicted last November in a civil rape case and is also being sued in the US federal civil court by a woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her in Miami.

Other high-profile figures who had shown interest in the post, including musician Bob Geldof and "Riverdance" performer Michael Flatley, also exited the race.