Limerick and the rest of the country to go to the polls for Presidential election

LIMERICK and the rest of the country will go to the polls this Friday as the election to decide the next President of Ireland takes place.

Polling stations will open across Limerick city and county from 7am for people to have their say in the contest to become the 10th head of State. They will remain open until 10pm.

Three names will appear on the ballot paper: Independent Galway TD Catherine Connolly, former Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys, and ex-Dublin football manager Jim Gavin, who was flying the flag for Fianna Fail.

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Mr Gavin suspended his campaign and formally withdrew from the race on Sunday, October 5 last after it emerged he owed a former tenant €3,300 which was never repaid.

At that stage, it was too late to change the ballot paper, so people will still be able to vote for him, should they wish - and these votes will be valid.

As with all elections in Ireland, it will be conducted using proportional representation with a single transferrable vote, so people are being asked to nominate their candidate in order of preference.

Counting of votes will take place in a manner reflective of the current Dail constituencies of Limerick City and Limerick County.

A total of 151,331 people are eligible to vote in Limerick - 75,979 in the city and 73,352 in the county, according to figures released this week by the Electoral Commission.

Unlike other counts, voting in the Presidential election is limited to Irish citizens only.

Following the closure of the polls on Friday night, ballot boxes from polling stations across Limerick will be transported to the

Woodlands House Hotel in Adare - a change to previous contests when counts were held at Limerick Racecourse.

Counting for the City and County constituencies will kick off at 9am on Saturday.

Returning officers in Limerick and across the country will sort through the first preference votes.

This information is sent to Dublin Castle, where it will be checked by Presidential returning officer Barry Ryan.

After submission of all first count results, he will then calculate the quota for election. Then he’ll decide on the next steps regarding elimination of a candidate and the distribution of transfers.

When he declares the national result on the first count, he will then instruct local returning officers to move on to exclude candidates, or move to a second count.

It’s anticipated that the first preference results for Limerick and other constituencies across the country will be published 10 minutes after Mr Ryan makes his first declaration.

Given the fact there are just three candidates on the ballot, a winner will likely be declared after count number two. In the event of one candidate exceeding 50% of the vote, there will be no need for a second count. A result is expected Saturday evening.