Ireland conducted the counting work of the 2025 presidential election on Saturday (October 25, 2025). The latest results show that independent candidate Catherine Connolly, supported by left-wing parties, has gained an overwhelming advantage, and her opponent has conceded defeat.
Connolly has been a member of parliament since 2016 and previously worked as a psychologist and lawyer. She has received support from major left-wing parties, including Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, the People Before Profit Party, and the Green Party.
Her opponent is Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael. Humphreys served as a member of parliament from 2011 to 2024 and held several senior cabinet minister positions, including Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Justice.
Humphreys has congratulated Connolly on “being elected as the next President of Ireland.”
Humphreys said, “Catherine will be the president for all of us, she will also be my president, and I sincerely wish her all the best.”
Voters cast their ballots on Friday local time, and the counting of votes began from 9 am on Saturday. As of now, the counting work is still in progress.
Based on the counting results from across the country, Connolly has emerged victorious in the presidential election by a significant margin. She is expected to become the tenth President of Ireland, succeeding the current head of state, Michael Higgins.
The presidential election had two candidates, but there were three names on the ballot – Connolly, Humphreys, and Jim Gavin. Gavin’s name remained on the ballot as he withdrew from the race too late.
The first official counting results announced on that day came from the Central South Cork constituency, where Connolly received 64.7% of the first-preference votes, Humphreys received 28.2%, and Gavin received 7.1% of valid votes.
However, counting centers across the country also discovered a significant number of spoiled ballots. This indicates that a considerable portion of voters chose not to vote for any of the candidates listed on the ballot.
A photo of a spoiled ballot taken by Reuters shows a voter writing the number “1” next to all three candidates’ names and leaving a message at the bottom of the ballot saying, “Make a change!”
Early unofficial data indicates that the voter turnout for this election may once again set a record for the lowest turnout. The voter turnout for the previous presidential election in 2018 was slightly below 40%, which was already a historical low record.
Approximately 3.6 million people in Ireland are eligible to participate in the election and vote.