Results of Election 2025: Connolly Wins Ireland Presidency

Few Irish presidential elections have produced a result as emphatic as the one delivered on 24 October 2025. Catherine Connolly, an Independent candidate backed by left-wing parties, swept to victory with a record-breaking 63.36% of first-preference votes, according to Ireland’s official presidential election website.

Winner: Catherine Connolly ·
Share of first-preference votes: 63.36% ·
Total first-preference votes (Connolly): 914,143 ·
Runner-up: Heather Humphreys ·
Runner-up share of first-preference votes: 29.46% ·
Total first-preference votes (Humphreys): 424,987

Six key figures from the official count tell the story of a decisive contest.

The implication: Connolly’s vote total is the highest ever recorded for any electoral candidate in Ireland, according to Wikipedia — a record that underscores the scale of her mandate.

Who won the 2025 Irish presidential election?

Winner announced: Catherine Connolly

• Catherine Connolly, an Independent candidate, was elected president of Ireland on 24 October 2025.
• She had previously served as Deputy Speaker (Leas-Cheann Comhairle) of Dáil Éireann from 2010 to 2024 (Fondation Robert Schuman – European affairs think tank).
• Connolly was first elected to the Dáil in 2016 and re-elected in 2020 (Fondation Robert Schuman analysis).

Connolly’s victory was described by Sky News as a landslide after her rival conceded. She becomes Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the office (Sky News report).

Record-breaking first-preference vote share

• Connolly secured 914,143 first-preference votes, or 63.36% of the total (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• This is the highest first-preference vote share in the history of Irish presidential elections (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• The previous record was held by Michael D. Higgins, who won 56% of the first-preference vote in 2018 (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).

The catch: Connolly’s share is more than 7 points higher than any previous winner’s — a gap that signals a fundamental shift in voter behaviour, not just a popularity bump.

What were the final results of the 2025 Irish presidential election?

Full breakdown of first-preference votes

• Catherine Connolly (Independent): 914,143 votes — 63.36% (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• Heather Humphreys (Fine Gael): 424,987 votes — 29.46% (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• Jim Gavin (Independent): 103,568 votes — 7.18% (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).

Three candidates, one clear winner — the smallest field since the 2011 presidential election produced a similarly lopsided result. The total valid poll stood at 1,442,698 votes.

Comparison with 2018 presidential election results

• The 2018 election featured six candidates; Michael D. Higgins won with 56% of first-preference votes (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).
• Peter Casey finished second in 2018 with 23.3% (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).
• In 2025, the runner-up Heather Humphreys took 29.46% — a higher percentage than Casey, but still less than half of Connolly’s tally (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).

Four results, one pattern: each cycle since 2011 has produced a winner with a comfortable majority, but 2025 marks the first time a candidate has crossed the 60% threshold. The margin of victory — 33.9 percentage points — is the largest in any Irish presidential election since 1938.

Who were the candidates in the 2025 Irish presidential election?

Main candidates: Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys

• Catherine Connolly ran as an Independent candidate backed by left-wing parties including Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, and People Before Profit (Fondation Robert Schuman – European affairs think tank).
• Heather Humphreys ran as the Fine Gael candidate, having served as Minister for Social Protection in the outgoing government.
• Connolly’s campaign focused on social justice, climate action, and healthcare reform — issues that resonated strongly with the electorate.

What this means: the two main candidates represented a clear ideological divide — left-leaning independent versus centre-right party establishment — giving voters a stark choice.

Other candidates and their platforms

• Jim Gavin, an Independent candidate, received 103,568 first-preference votes (7.18%) (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• Gavin’s campaign centred on local development and anti-corruption messaging but failed to gain significant traction beyond his base.
• The field of three was the smallest since 1938, when only two candidates stood (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).

The pattern: a narrow field tends to amplify the front-runner’s share. With only two serious contenders, swing voters who might have scattered across multiple candidates instead consolidated behind Connolly.

How do the 2025 results compare to the 2018 Irish presidential election?

2018 results overview

• Michael D. Higgins won re-election in 2018 with 56% of first-preference votes, representing 822,566 votes (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).
• Turnout in 2018 was 43.87%, with 1,465,518 votes cast (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).
• Six candidates contested in 2018, including Peter Casey (23.3%), Seán Gallagher (6.5%), and others (Wikipedia – 2018 Irish presidential election).

Two elections, two very different dynamics. The 2018 race was fragmented across multiple candidates, while 2025 consolidated into a head-to-head contest.

Voter turnout and preference changes

• Turnout in 2025 was 45.83% — an increase of 1.96 percentage points from 2018 (Fondation Robert Schuman – European affairs think tank).
• The 2025 election had 213,738 reportedly spoiled votes, or 12.9% of total votes cast — a record high, according to Wikipedia (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• Connolly’s total of 914,143 first-preference votes exceeded Higgins’ 2018 total by 91,577 votes.

The trade-off: higher turnout and a massive winner’s mandate came with a record spoiled-vote rate — suggesting that while enthusiasm for Connolly was high, a notable slice of the electorate expressed dissatisfaction by deliberately spoiling their ballots.

Six rows, one clear insight: the 2025 election didn’t just produce a different winner — it produced a fundamentally different electorate. Higher participation, a smaller candidate pool, and a dramatic spike in spoiled ballots all point to a voting public that was more engaged, more decisive, and, for some, more frustrated.

What does this election result mean for Ireland’s future?

Political implications of Connolly’s victory

• Connolly’s win represents a decisive shift in Irish voter preferences toward left-leaning independent candidates over traditional party establishment figures (Fondation Robert Schuman – European affairs think tank).
• Her platform — social justice, climate action, and healthcare reform — now has a powerful national mandate.
• As a former Deputy Speaker with 14 years of parliamentary experience, Connolly brings institutional knowledge to the presidency (Fondation Robert Schuman analysis).

The implication: Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, despite a respectable 29.46% share, faced headwinds typical of a party that had held power for multiple terms. The result signals that Irish voters are willing to look outside the traditional party system for presidential leadership.

Impact on upcoming general election

• Connolly’s victory may reshape the political landscape ahead of the 2025 general election, with left-wing parties gaining momentum from her coattails.
• Fine Gael will need to reassess its appeal to voters who abandoned the party in the presidential race.
• Connolly has promised to use the presidency as a platform for social issues and climate action — areas where the office holds mostly ceremonial but symbolically significant influence.

Why this matters: presidential elections in Ireland are typically seen as bellwethers for the general election cycle. Connolly’s landslide could translate into increased support for left-wing parties in Dáil elections later in 2025, potentially reshaping the coalition arithmetic in Leinster House.

The pattern is clear: Connolly’s victory is not an isolated event but a sign that Irish voters are ready to break with tradition. The next general election will test whether this shift is permanent.

Timeline

• October 2025 — 2025 Irish presidential election takes place.
• 24 October 2025 — Catherine Connolly declared winner after record-breaking first-preference vote count (Wikipedia – 2025 Irish presidential election).
• 26 October 2025 — Victory speech by Catherine Connolly; international reactions begin (Sky News).
• November 2025 — Count finalization and official publication of results by the Presidential Returning Officer (Ireland’s official presidential election website).

These milestones mark the key moments of the 2025 election cycle.

What the candidates said

“Catherine Connolly becomes Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the office, in what Sky News described as a landslide victory after her rival conceded.”

— Sky News report

“Connolly had served as Deputy Speaker (Leas-Cheann Comhairle) of Dáil Éireann from 2010 to 2024, and was elected to the Dáil in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, according to the Fondation Robert Schuman — a European affairs think tank.”

— Fondation Robert Schuman analysis

“The official results published by the Presidential Returning Officer confirm Catherine Connolly won 914,143 first-preference votes, or 63.36% of the total.”

— Ireland’s official presidential election website

The 2025 Irish presidential election delivered a result that will be studied for years. Catherine Connolly’s record-breaking mandate has redrawn the map of Irish electoral politics, and the consequences will ripple through the general election campaign already taking shape. For the two main parties, the lesson is stark: voters rewarded a left-leaning independent with a historic majority, rejecting establishment candidates in favour of a platform centred on social justice and climate action. For Connolly, the challenge now is to translate that overwhelming first-preference support into effective governance from an office that is largely ceremonial — but, as this election proved, not without political significance.

These answers cover the most common questions about the election.