Pearse Doherty is held aloft by his supporters. Pic by Northwest Newspix.
Sinn Fein have claimed their first seat in Donegal after Pearse Doherty was elected on the eight count.
The Gaoth Dobhair man was held aloft by his supporters at the Aura County Centre in Letterkenny after taking 3,410 of Gary Doherty’s transfers.
He was elected on a total vote of 14,600.
Pearse thanked his supporters after he was returned as the second TD in the five seater constituency behind Fianna Fail’s Charlie McConalogue.
We have now entered the ninth count with Pat The Cope Gallagher the next favourite to take a seat.
Fine Gael’s Joe McHugh is then likely to follow for the fourth seat followed perhaps by Thomas Pringle or even Padraig MacLochlainn.
However, the issue of a possible call for a recount by either Sinn Fein or Pringle is still a possibility.
A huge amount now depends on Pearse Doherty’s distribution of surplus votes.
