More than 3.6 million people in Ireland were eligible to vote to choose their next president, a post that is largely ceremonial

More than 3.6 million people in Ireland were eligible to vote to choose their next president, a post that is largely ceremonial

 Paul Faith

Irish voters looked set to have emphatically chosen left-winger Catherine Connolly to be the country's new president, as ballots were counted Saturday in an election overshadowed by criticism that it lacked real choice.

Early tallies showed Connolly, an independent, was on course for a landslide victory over the centrist Fine Gael party's Heather Humphreys, but with a record number of spoiled ballots and low turnout.

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.