Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, who is running as an independent in the October 24 election, attends the Irish National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Ireland, September 16, 2025.

Ireland began voting on Friday to elect its next president with Catherine Connolly, a veteran lawmaker on the far-left of the Irish political spectrum, the clear favourite to win the largely ceremonial role.

Irish voters looked set to have emphatically chosen left-winger Catherine Connolly to be the country's new president, as ballots were counted Saturday in an election overshadowed by criticism that it

Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys has congratulated Catherine Connolly on "becoming the next President of Ireland". Counting is continuing but tallies around the country indicate a landslide victory for Connolly in the race to be the next president.