Note on electorate and turnout

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Electoral Commission, has confirmed that the last approximate figures provided to by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of the byelection-specific electorate for the two constituencies, as of May 8th, 2026, after the voter registration deadline had passed, was:

• Dublin Central – 57,932
• Galway West – 104,167

“It appears that the polling scheme electorate figure published by the Returning Officer in advance of polling day is based on the larger ‘local’ electorate, and this has been interpreted inadvertently by some analysts as the more limited bye-election specific electorate,” the commission added.

Based on the commission’s data, therefore, turnout was as follows:

• Dublin Central - 43%
• Galway West - 46%

Read Pat Leahy’s article on the turnout issue here.