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1959 Irish presidential election

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FieldValue
election_name1959 Irish presidential election
countryIreland
typepresidential
ongoingno
previous_election1952 Irish presidential election
previous_year1952
next_election1966 Irish presidential election
next_year1966
turnout58.3% ( 4.7 pp)
1blankFinal percentage
election_date17 June 1959
image1
nominee1Éamon de Valera
party1Fianna Fáil
popular_vote1**538,003**
1data1**56.3%**
image2
nominee2Seán Mac Eoin
party2Fine Gael
popular_vote2417,536
1data243.7%
titlePresident
before_electionSeán T. O'Kelly
before_partyFianna Fáil
after_electionÉamon de Valera
after_partyFianna Fáil
map_image1959 Irish presidential election.svg

|| image2 = The 1959 Irish presidential election was held on Wednesday, 17 June 1959. Éamon de Valera, then Taoiseach, was elected as president of Ireland. A referendum proposed by de Valera to replace the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote with first-past-the-post voting which was held on the same day was defeated by 48.2% to 51.8%.

Nomination process

Under Article 12 of the Constitution of Ireland, a candidate for president may be nominated by:

  • at least twenty of the 207 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or
  • at least four of 31 councils of the administrative counties, including county boroughs, or
  • themselves, in the case of a former or retiring president.

Outgoing president Seán T. O'Kelly had served two terms and was ineligible to serve again. On 27 April, the Minister for Local Government signed the ministerial order opening nominations, with noon on 19 May as the deadline for nominations, and 17 June set as the date for a contest. All Irish citizens on the Dáil electoral register were eligible to vote.

Éamon de Valera, who had served as President of Dáil Éireann and President of the Irish Republic from 1919 to 1922 during the Irish revolutionary period, as President of the Executive Council from 1932 to 1937, and as Taoiseach from 1937 to 1948, from 1951 to 1954, and was serving again from 1957, was nominated by Fianna Fáil on 12 May. He had served as Fianna Fáil's leader since its foundation in 1926. Later reports revealed that de Valera requested Oscar Traynor, the Minister for Justice, to issue him with a certificate of citizenship, as he had been born in the United States. This was kept confidential.

Seán Mac Eoin, a Fine Gael TD who had been the party's candidate in the 1945 presidential election, was nominated again by the party on 15 May.

During the campaign, the far-right micro-party Lia Fáil called on its followers to support Seán Mac Eoin over de Valera. The party gave 25 reasons for this position, with some of those reasons being that de Valera "was an alien" (de Valera had been born in the United States, but had been raised and living in Ireland since the age of 2), was a puppet of the British, that he was "the darling" of Protestants, Freemasons and the British Army, and that "his satanic lust for power motivates every act of his life". The paper's reasons for supporting Mac Eoin were because he was "an honest-to-God Irishman of our flesh and blood whose father and mother we know" and his military background.

Patrick McCartan, who had also been a candidate in the 1945 election and had served as a senator for Clann na Poblachta from 1948 to 1951, was nominated by two county councils only, short of the four required for nomination. Eoin O'Mahony also sought and failed to secure a nomination by county councils.

Éamon de Valera was inaugurated as president on 25 June.

Result

Results by constituency

ConstituencyDe ValeraMac EoinVotes%Votes%Total538,00356.3417,53643.7
Carlow–KilkennyFianna Fáil}}"20,023Fianna Fáil}}"58.014,52142.0
CavanFianna Fáil}}"13,912Fianna Fáil}}"56.610,66943.4
ClareFianna Fáil}}"19,095Fianna Fáil}}"65.010,27035.0
Cork BoroughFianna Fáil}}"19,390Fianna Fáil}}"55.815,34044.2
Cork EastFianna Fáil}}"12,117Fianna Fáil}}"56.69,29543.4
Cork NorthFianna Fáil}}"12,754Fianna Fáil}}"54.210,79345.8
Cork SouthFianna Fáil}}"11,909Fianna Fáil}}"53.510,36746.5
Cork West10,23548.5Fine Gael}}"10,861Fine Gael}}"51.5
Donegal EastFianna Fáil}}"15,521Fianna Fáil}}"69.16,93430.9
Donegal WestFianna Fáil}}"9,616Fianna Fáil}}"62.85,70037.2
Dublin CountyFianna Fáil}}"19,449Fianna Fáil}}"52.917,29247.1
Dublin North-East6,13347.9Fine Gael}}"6,682Fine Gael}}"52.1
Dublin North-Central16,41748.5Fine Gael}}"17,446Fine Gael}}"51.5
Dublin North-West7,70746.3Fine Gael}}"8,941Fine Gael}}"53.7
Dublin South-Central11,81949.6Fine Gael}}"12,010Fine Gael}}"50.4
Dublin South-EastFianna Fáil}}"10,363Fianna Fáil}}"50.810,03449.2
Dublin South-WestFianna Fáil}}"16,195Fianna Fáil}}"51.015,55149.0
Dún Laoghaire and RathdownFianna Fáil}}"16,911Fianna Fáil}}"53.014,98247.0
Galway NorthFianna Fáil}}"9,037Fianna Fáil}}"62.75,36837.3
Galway SouthFianna Fáil}}"11,710Fianna Fáil}}"66.65,86833.4
Galway WestFianna Fáil}}"10,134Fianna Fáil}}"69.04,54831.0
Kerry NorthFianna Fáil}}"12,361Fianna Fáil}}"61.77,68038.3
Kerry SouthFianna Fáil}}"7,472Fianna Fáil}}"57.75,48142.3
KildareFianna Fáil}}"10,794Fianna Fáil}}"52.49,79147.6
Laois–OffalyFianna Fáil}}"20,059Fianna Fáil}}"58.814,04541.2
Limerick EastFianna Fáil}}"15,942Fianna Fáil}}"59.211,00740.8
Limerick WestFianna Fáil}}"12,918Fianna Fáil}}"62.47,79937.6
Longford–Westmeath16,23448.1Fine Gael}}"17,534Fine Gael}}"51.9
LouthFianna Fáil}}"13,646Fianna Fáil}}"55.211,07644.8
Mayo NorthFianna Fáil}}"9,219Fianna Fáil}}"62.05,65138.0
Mayo SouthFianna Fáil}}"12,925Fianna Fáil}}"55.110,53844.9
MeathFianna Fáil}}"13,940Fianna Fáil}}"58.99,71041.1
MonaghanFianna Fáil}}"11,028Fianna Fáil}}"60.07,36140.0
RoscommonFianna Fáil}}"12,188Fianna Fáil}}"53.510,59946.5
Sligo–LeitrimFianna Fáil}}"16,081Fianna Fáil}}"52.714,44947.3
Tipperary NorthFianna Fáil}}"12,253Fianna Fáil}}"60.28,10439.8
Tipperary SouthFianna Fáil}}"16,568Fianna Fáil}}"58.211,90041.8
WaterfordFianna Fáil}}"15,679Fianna Fáil}}"61.79,71538.3
WexfordFianna Fáil}}"17,290Fianna Fáil}}"55.913,66744.1
WicklowFianna Fáil}}"10,959Fianna Fáil}}"57.97,95742.1

Notes

References

References

  1. (28 April 1959). "Presidential election on June 17th". [[The Irish Times]].
  2. (16 May 1959). "Papers presented". The Irish Times.
  3. McCullagh, David. (18 September 2025). "De Valera eligibility for president questioned in 1959".
  4. (15 May 1959). "MacEoin nomination goes in today". The Irish Times.
  5. Madden, Jim. "Fr John Fahy: Radical Republican & Agrarian Activist".
  6. (4 November 2020). "Lia Fáil -Episode 22".
  7. Madden, Jim. (31 January 2013). "An Irishman's Diary". [[Irish Times]].
  8. (12 May 1959). "Council to nominate MacCartan". The Irish Times.
  9. (20 May 1959). "Only two to stand for Presidency". The Irish Times.
  10. (13 May 1959). "No Cork candidate for president". The Irish Times.
  11. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011". [[Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
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