Ganley tussles for Irish seat in EU parliament

Formerly confident Libertas leader Declan Ganley is locked in a last-ditch battle to take the third seat in Dublin's north-west constituency.

The millionaire turned political activist heads up the Eurosceptic party, and had previously been bullish regarding his chances.

His spokesman said yesterday evening that Ganley "is more than likely to take a seat".

However, results from the first count on Sunday night showed he trailed independent candidate Marian Harkin by some 14,000 votes.

Shortly after these results were returned Ganley asked to speak to the returning officer on a "procedural issue" said a parliament spokesperson.

It is understood this stems from his belief that all Libertas votes may not have been counted. A recount began at 9am Monday.

The other issue centres on the process of transferring votes from unsuccessful candidates which could give the Libertas leader enough impetus to snatch the third seat in the region.

Results released from the European parliament show the party took four per cent of the Irish vote.

The news follows a poor result for the governing Fianna Fáil party who gained 23 per cent of the vote. Opposition party Fine Gael secured 30 per cent of ballots, polls show.

Ganley's party mounted a pan-European campaign for these elections and seems to have fared well in countries such as France, where they took votes from the National Front and polled at five per cent.

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