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Catherine Connolly wins presidential election in Ireland

The final results of the vote will be known later in the day

LONDON, October 25. /TASS/. Independent candidate Catherine Connolly has won the Irish presidential election, her rival, Heather Humphrys, nominated by the centrist Fine Gael party, announced.

"Catherine will be the president for all of us. She will be my president. And I really would like to wish her all the very best," RTE quoted Humphrys as saying.

The final results of the vote will be known later in the day. RTE noted that Connolly's victory was not a surprise, as this was the outcome predicted by opinion polls.

Connolly is an independent candidate, but she is supported by the nationalist party Sinn Fein and left-wing political forces. She criticizes Russia's actions in Ukraine, but also condemns NATO for provoking the conflict. The politician expresses concern about the "militarization of Europe," supports the principle of Irish neutrality, and calls the events in the Gaza Strip genocide. This year, Politico magazine characterized her views as "often anti-Western," "anti-NATO," and strongly anti-Israel.

Since 2011, Michael Higgins has held the presidency, and in 2018, he was re-elected to a second seven-year term. His term ends on November 11. Ireland is a parliamentary republic, so the president's functions are largely ceremonial. At the same time the president is the head of state and supreme commander of the Irish Defense Forces. Connolly is the third woman to be elected president of Ireland.

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