THE FOUR competitors for the Fine Gael presidential nomination are to give a series of addresses to the parliamentary party at a special meeting in Leinster House this morning.
Former European Parliament president Pat Cox, former minister of state Avril Doyle, and MEPs Mairéad McGuinness and Gay Mitchell – will each speak for a maximum of eight minutes.
In their speeches, which will be taken in alphabetical order, each of the presidential hopefuls will explain why he or she would be the best choice in the race for Áras an Uachtaráin in November.
Most Fine Gael sources suggest Ms McGuinness and Mr Mitchell are the front runners at this stage but that Mr Cox and Ms Doyle remain serious contenders with more than a week to go to the selection convention.
All four aspirants are said to have been working flat out, contacting members of the party’s electoral college – composed of elected representatives and executive members – to solicit their votes.
Nominations close tomorrow and the candidate will be chosen at a meeting of the electoral college in Dublin on July 9th, where more than 600 Oireachtas members, MEPs, councillors and members of the executive will be eligible to vote.
Chairman of the parliamentary party Charles Flanagan TD invited the party’s legal adviser, Kevin O’Higgins, to explain the voting procedure to the TDs and Senators last night.
The four contenders are also due to deliver similar addresses on Saturday morning to the party’s executive council, whose members are part of the decision-making process.
Mr Mitchell and Ms Doyle are seen as rivals for the traditional Fine Gael vote, with Ms McGuinness relying heavily on councillors and Mr Cox having strong support from party headquarters.
Taoiseach and party leader Enda Kenny has maintained a studious public neutrality between the four.
It is generally believed the broad party leadership would control 25 to 30 out of the 99 votes in the parliamentary party, if it decided to support a particular contender.
Party sources said Mr Cox was the most likely beneficiary of such a move, adding that they would be surprised if he did not receive significant support from this quarter.
However, there is some resentment against Mr Cox as someone who has recently joined the party. This was summed up by one activist who said it was “time for a blueshirt”. Mr Mitchell is seen as the best prospect to win Dublin against Labour’s Michael D Higgins, who is regarded by Fine Gael as a strong opponent.
Fine Gael TD for Carlow-Kilkenny John Paul Phelan urged support for Ms Doyle, describing her as “a woman of substance and an exceptional servant to the Irish public for over 30 years”.
Selection process: how it works
THIS IS the first time the Fine Gael electoral college system for presidential elections will be operated. The method used will be proportional representation through the single transferable vote.
Votes of TDs and Senators count for 70 per cent of the poll; local representatives count for 20 per cent and executive members the remaining 10 per cent. Where there is overlap between categories, members of the electoral college vote from the section of the college with the greater voting strength.
The parliamentary party is composed of 76 TDs, 19 Senators and four MEPs. A total of 507 affiliated members of either county, city, borough or town councils or Údarás na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht authority) have a vote but two of them will vote in their capacity as members of the executive council.
There are 29 members of the executive council, but six of these, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, will vote as members of the parliamentary party.
The total electorate comes to 627. Votes have to be cast in person at the convention in Dublin on Saturday week.
