PoliticsQ&A

Fine Gael leadership election: how it works and when we’ll know the next taoiseach

Process starts today with nominations from parliamentary party

Votes will be counted on April 5th at a national count centre.
Votes will be counted on April 5th at a national count centre.
Sorcha Pollak
Jade Wilson
Thu Mar 21 2024 - 09:02

The Fine Gael leadership contest, and the race to select a new taoiseach for this country, began almost immediately following Leo Varadkar’s shock announcement on Wednesday afternoon that he was stepping down as party leader.

The Fine Gael executive council met on Wednesday evening to agree the nomination procedure for candidates, while chairman of the Fine Gael executive council Willie Geraghty was appointed the national returning officer for the leadership contest. The entire election process will be overseen by Fine Gael’s executive council.

It is not clear how the process will change if Harris remains uncontested and is the sole candidate for the leadership.

In the normal course of events, here is what would happen next:

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Thursday, March 21st: Nominations for the next Fine Gael Party leader opened at 10am on Thursday morning and will remain open until next Monday, March 25th at 1pm.

Tuesday, March 26th – Thursday, March 28th: There will be three regional meetings held next week, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, before any votes are cast. These will be live-streamed on Fine Gael social media channels with more details due to be announced.

Tuesday, April 2nd – Thursday, April 4th: the almost 20,000 Fine Gael eligible party members will be invited to cast their vote at more than 20 polling stations across the State. Party members must be affiliated for at least two years to be eligible to vote.

Friday, April 5th: All votes will be brought to the national count centre, the location of which is yet to be confirmed, where they will be verified and counted under the supervision of the national returning officer.

Friday, April 5th: The result will be officially announced at the count centre.

How does the leadership contest work?

Candidates must be nominated by at least 10 per cent (six members) of the Fine Gael parliamentary party which is comprised of TDs, Senators and MEPs. Simon Harris became the first to reach this threshold on Thursday morning.

If more than one candidate is nominated and a leadership contest arises, candidates must sign a code of conduct agreed by the executive council. This code is binding on all leadership election candidates and governs their behaviour for the duration of the leadership election.

Fine Gael has also established an ethics and election committee to ensure compliance with this code of conduct.

Votes will be weighted in accordance with the Fine Gael electoral college voting system rules, with the 54 members of the parliamentary party accounting for 65 per cent of the total vote, 20,000 party members accounting for 25 per cent, and 249 local representatives (councillors and Údarás na Gaeltachta board members) accounting for the remaining 10 per cent of the vote.

Who is putting their name forward for the Fine Gael leadership?

Simon Harris, the Minister for Higher Education, has formally declared his intentions to become the next leader of Fine Gael and the country’s next taoiseach, with dozens of party members publicly backing him. Ministers Paschal Donohoe, Heather Humphreys, Helen McEntee, Simon Coveney and Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton have ruled themselves out as potential successors.