Final seat on a knife edge in Athlone LEA
Mary Finn, Marie Keane and Marie Hester hard at work at the count centre in Roscommon. Pic. Gerard O'Loughlin
The battle for the final seats in the Athlone LEA is heating up, with just 20 votes separating three candidates fighting it out for the sixth and final seat.
At the sixth count, following the distribution of excluded candidate Dominic Naughton’s 433 votes, Cllr John Keogh stands with 1,339 and looks set to be elected to the fifth seat. The quota is 1,403.
However, there is just twenty votes between Sam Brooks (SF) on 712, Domnick Connolly (FG) on 721, and James Murray (FF) on 701. However, as Mr Brooks’ running mate Joe Harney, from Drum, has now been eliminated, his 536 votes will be crucial.
As well as likely going to his party colleague, they may also benefit Cllr Keogh in terms of geography.
Brooks (SF) 647 + 65 = 712
Connolly (FG) 683 + 38 = 721
Harney (SF) 493 + 43 = 536
Keogh (FF) 1267 + 72 = 1339
Murray (FF) 683 + 18 = 701
