Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty has won the first seat in Donegal in the 2024 General Election.
The Gaoth Dobhair man romped in ahead of all his rivals with a whopping 18,898 first preference votes with the overall quota being 12,771 votes.
Doherty tallied well in large numbers from early this morning.
But the official first count was not announced until just after 11.15pm.
Doherty was held aloft by his supporters as he repeated his poll-topping performance of 2020.
A delighted Doherty told Donegal Daily “We are delighted that we are the people’s choice in Donegal.”
“People see the calibre of not only the work ethic we have but the solutions we have to make sure that Donegal is no longer a forgotten county.”
Doherty will have a pivotal role in seeing if an “alternative government is possible”.
He said: “When the dust settles, when all the seats are filled across the State we have to look at the numbers and see if we can have a government without Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
“That’s what we want. It’s not personal against those parties. That’s how you deliver the amount of change that is required.”
