The current south-Leinster regional chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Francie Gorman, is ahead of his rival Martin Stapleton, in the race to become the next president of the association, with 13,000 votes now counted.
The national election count began today (Wednesday, December, 13) at a hotel in Co. Dublin just after 8.30a.m, and currently the votes from 491 branches out of 941 branches have been completed.
There are approximately a team of 60 people currently involved in the counting process, with observers from across the country also keeping a close eye on all the proceedings.
Sligo was the first branch for all votes to be declared counted – with the provisional results so far suggesting that Francie Gorman received 279 of the votes while Martin Stapleton got 127.
The provisional vote tally for the Waterford branch has also been completed with Stapleton netting 315 votes in the county and Gorman receiving 270.
Voting for the Longford branch has also been completed with provisional figures suggesting that Gorman received 260 votes while Stapleton got 106.
Vote counts for Carlow has also also completed. Provisional figures show Gorman received 623 votes and Stapleton 63.
Counting for Dublin is the latest completed. The figures show Gorman received 123 and Stapleton 33.
IFA president votes
The competition between the two candidates bidding to become the next IFA deputy president is also close with Alice Doyle slightly ahead of Pat Murphy, at the latest tally.
According to the latest completed provisional figures for the Sligo branch, Doyle received 118 votes while Murphy received 288, meanwhile in Waterford, Doyle received 462 votes and Murphy received 169 votes.
Overall the IFA national returning officer, Brian Rushe, said the counting process is proceeding as scheduled but it is “too early” in the day for any predictions to be made on what trends may be developing in voter patterns.
If the current counting speed continues, senior IFA officials are hoping that there will be a “good idea” of who could be the successful candidates by 6.00p.m, despite earlier estimations that the count might enter a second day.
The campaign team behind Gorman said it was “pleased” with the Co. Laois suckler beef and sheep farmer’s performance so far.
They told Agriland that “so far the indications are positive – we’re happy with what we are seeing”.
Meanwhile Stapleton’s campaign team are also upbeat and said that while the counting process was underway it was “very early” in the day for them to make any predictions on his final performance.