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The Irish presidential election of 2011 was the thirteenth presidential election to be held in Ireland, and the first to be contested by a record seven candidates.〔 It was held on Thursday, 27 October 2011.〔〔Voting on certain offshore islands took place on 24 and 25 October. 〕 The election was held to elect a successor to Mary McAleese, with the winner scheduled to be inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland on 11 November 2011. Two constitutional referendums and a by-election for a vacant Dáil seat in the Dublin West constituency took place on the same day. The seven candidates were Mary Davis, Seán Gallagher, Michael D. Higgins, Martin McGuinness, Gay Mitchell, David Norris and Dana Rosemary Scallon. Davis, Gallagher, Norris and Scallon (all running as Independents), secured their nominations via local authorities. Higgins was put forward by Labour, McGuinness was put forward by Sinn Féin and Mitchell was put forward by Fine Gael. The previously dominant Fianna Fáil party declined to put forward an official candidate following their disastrous general election campaign earlier that year. Norris, a civil rights campaigner credited with helping overthrow Ireland's laws criminalising homosexuality, was the leading candidate for much of the race, and had more than double the support of the other declared candidates in January 2011. He withdrew in August 2011 but returned to the race the following month due to his continuing widespread popular appeal. The opening televised debate, ''Vincent Browne's Big Presidential Debate'' on TV3, saw moderator Vincent Browne challenge Sinn Féin candidate Martin McGuinness on the post-1974 membership of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), that McGuinness repeatedly denied, by producing eight books from under his desk that claimed otherwise. Fine Gael candidate Gay Mitchell suffered from lack of recognition by many voters, and suffered heavily for his controversial views on suicide and on Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth. Labour candidate Michael D. Higgins was pursued by his past links to the unpopular Fianna Fáil and his admission that he had smoked marijuana. Independent candidate Dana Rosemary Scallon interrupted the ''Prime Time'' debate, moderated by Miriam O'Callaghan, to read out a statement condemning a "malicious" and "false" accusation that she had heard had been made against her family. Seán Gallagher, a former member of the Fianna Fáil national executive, was leading the opinion polls ahead of the final televised debate, moderated by Pat Kenny on ''The Frontline''. However, Gallagher's campaign came undone when he admitted live on air to collecting a €5,000 cheque for a Fianna Fáil fundraiser event from a man he described as a "convicted criminal and fuel smuggler". Michael D. Higgins was ultimately elected the ninth President of Ireland. Gallagher finished in second place, McGuinness finished in third, while Norris, favourite for much of the race, finished fifth. Gallagher's sudden demise was compared to Devon Loch's fall at the winning post in the 1956 Grand National.〔 ==Procedure== (詳細はConstitution of Ireland 〕 *be a citizen of Ireland *be at least 35 years of age〔The 1996 report of the Constitution Review Group notes "There is an apparent discrepancy between the English and Irish versions. The Irish version has ‘ag a bhfuil cúig bliana tríochad slán’ (that is, has completed thirty-five years), whereas the English version is ‘who has reached his thirty-fifth year of age’, which could mean has entered rather than completed that year." As according to article 25.5.4 of ''Bunreacht na hÉireannn'' in "case of conflict... the text in the national language (Irish) shall prevail", this means a candidate must be at least 35 years old. 〕 *be nominated by: * *at least twenty of the 226 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), or * *at least four of the 34 county or city councils, or * *him- or herself, in the case of an incumbent or former president who has served one term. Presidential elections are conducted under the Presidential Elections Act 1993, as amended. Constitutionally, the election must be held not more than 60 days before the ending of the term of office of the incumbent, or within 60 days of the office becoming vacant.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=How The President is Elected )〕 On 27 July the government announced that the election would be held on 27 October 2011. An order was made on 30 August by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government declaring 28 September to be the last day on which nominations could be received. The election was conducted by means of the alternative vote (also called instant runoff voting), which is the single-winner analogue of the single transferable vote used in other Irish elections.〔 Although the constitution calls the system "proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote", a single-winner election cannot be proportional. All Irish citizens entered on the current electoral register were eligible to vote.〔〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Electing a President — Preferential Voting )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish presidential election, 2011」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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