1973 Irish presidential election

The 1973 Irish presidential election was held on 30 May 1973. The outgoing president Éamon de Valera was ineligible for re-election after serving two terms in office. Former Tánaiste Erskine H. Childers, nominated by Fianna Fáil, was elected as president of Ireland, defeating Fine Gael deputy leader, Tom O'Higgins, who had come within 1% of defeating Éamon de Valera in the 1966 presidential election.

1973 Irish presidential election
30 May 1973
Turnout62.2%
 
FF
FG
Nominee Erskine H. Childers Tom O'Higgins
Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael
Popular vote 635,867 587,771
Final percentage 52.0% 48.0%
President before election

Éamon de Valera
Fianna Fáil

 Elected President

Erskine H. Childers
Fianna Fáil

Nomination process

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

On 25 April, the Minister for Local Government made the order for the presidential election, with noon on 8 May as the date for nominations, and 30 May as the date of polling.[1]

Campaign

O'Higgins was approved as the Fine Gael candidate on 31 January.[2] Childers was approved as the Fianna Fáil candidate on 6 April.[3] George Colley was director of elections for Childers.[4] O'Higgins was the early favourite to win, with odds of 1/2, against 6/4 for Childers.[5]

Result
1973 Irish presidential election[6]
CandidateNominated by% 1st PrefCount 1
Erskine H. Childers Oireachtas: Fianna Fáil 52.0 635,867
Tom O'Higgins Oireachtas: Fine Gael 48.0 587,771
Electorate: 1,977,817   Valid: 1,223,638   Spoilt: 6,946 (0.5%)   Quota: 611,820   Turnout: 62.2%
Popular vote
Childers
 
 52.0%
O'Higgins
 
 48.0%
Results by constituency
Constituency Childers O'Higgins
Votes % Votes %
Carlow–Kilkenny 23,231 52.0 21,458 48.0
Cavan 14,001 51.1 13,399 48.9
Clare 16,412 61.4 10,335 38.6
Clare–Galway South 14,470 56.9 10,946 43.1
Cork City North-West 15,589 62.9 9,196 37.1
Cork City South-East 15,918 60.0 10,625 40.0
Cork Mid 21,603 53.2 19,011 46.8
Cork North-East 20,887 54.8 17,253 45.2
Cork South-West 13,745 47.6 15,102 52.4
Donegal North-East 12,253 56.8 9,329 43.2
Donegal–Leitrim 14,326 55.1 11,689 44.9
Dublin Central 12,081 47.4 13,385 52.6
Dublin County North 18,625 49.5 18,993 50.5
Dublin County South 15,561 48.4 16,586 51.6
Dublin North-Central 14,012 48.0 15,162 52.0
Dublin North-East 16,613 47.9 18,081 52.1
Dublin North-West 12,102 48.2 12,981 51.8
Dublin South-Central 15,117 49.5 15,399 50.5
Dublin South-East 11,540 49.7 11,698 50.3
Dublin South-West 10,924 46.4 12,641 53.6
Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown 18,037 47.9 19,655 52.1
Galway North-East 12,005 50.5 11,756 49.5
Galway West 12,920 55.3 10,458 44.7
Kerry North 12,206 52.5 11,038 47.5
Kerry South 12,280 52.6 11,071 47.4
Kildare 15,689 54.1 13,291 45.9
Laois–Offaly 21,078 50.4 20,740 49.6
Limerick East 17,897 51.4 16,952 48.6
Limerick West 16,013 55.6 12,772 44.4
Longford–Westmeath 17,324 51.9 16,050 48.1
Louth 14,556 55.7 11,575 44.3
Mayo East 11,290 48.2 12,141 51.8
Mayo West 10,983 48.7 11,558 51.3
Meath 14,542 53.7 12,534 46.3
Monaghan 13,706 52.8 12,261 47.2
Roscommon–Leitrim 12,884 47.7 14,127 52.3
Sligo–Leitrim 12,832 50.0 12,829 50.0
Tipperary North 14,723 53.6 12,748 46.4
Tipperary South 20,002 55.0 16,339 45.0
Waterford 15,785 54.6 13,116 45.4
Wexford 16,279 46.3 18,878 53.7
Wicklow 13,826 52.3 12,613 47.7
Total 635,867 52.0 587,771 48.0
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References
  1. "Closing date for presidential nominations". The Irish Times. 26 April 1973.
  2. "Childers may go for the presidency". The Irish Times. 5 April 1973.
  3. "Childers would expand the dimension of the presidency". The Irish Times. 7 April 1973.
  4. "Colley made F.F. director for election". The Irish Times. 14 April 1973.
  5. "Irish Presidential Elections [ad for Terry Rogers bookmakers]". The Irish Times. 27 April 1973.
  6. "Presidential Elections 1938–2011" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. p. 28. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
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