Conservative campaigner Maria Steen has complained of being shut out of the presidential election after her bid to secure 20 Oireachtas nominations fell two short on Wednesday, leaving just three candidates to contest the vote on October 24th.
Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin and Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, who is supported by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and the Green Party, will be the only names on the ballot paper.
After a frantic final few days of campaigning, Ms Steen failed to secure the required 20 nominations after a group of Independent Senators – including Michael McDowell – which had been the focus of her supporters as potential nominators refused to facilitate her bid.
Mr McDowell and his colleagues were the subject of fierce criticism from supporters of Ms Steen.
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Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who had been marshalling support for Ms Steen, said “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and their so-called Independents pulled up the ladder to stop Maria Steen from challenging them in this election.”
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Speaking at Leinster House, Ms Steen said: “While I’m honoured to have received 90 per cent of the signatures required from members of the Oireachtas, I regret to say that it’s not enough, and that time has now run out.”
She added: “I entered this race with a hope of giving voters a real choice. The response from the public in recent days confirms the hunger that there is for an alternative candidate. Sadly, that hunger will now go unsatisfied.
“Rarely has the political consensus seemed more oppressive or detached from the wishes and desires of the public,” Ms Steen added.
Independent Ireland, which backed Ms Steen’s nomination, said this year’s presidential election had highlighted “an affront to democracy that can no longer be ignored”.
It has started drafting a Bill to effectively make it easier to get on the ticket, which it said it would seek to bring forward “as soon as the legislative process allows”.
“The current system is convoluted and places far too much power in the hands of too few people,” party leader Michael Collins said.
But speaking in New York, where he is attending the UN general assembly, Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected the criticism.
“Clearly those who can garner a significant breadth of support are the people who ultimately get selected as candidates,” he said.
“It’s quite extraordinary that the people who have been criticising Fianna Fáil for quite a number of years now expect us to support their candidate.”
