Irish presidential vote count begins

The counting process has started in Ireland's presidential election, with Michael D Higgins on course to secure a landslide victory.

Staff at 28 count centres across the country began sorting and collating the ballot papers at nine on Saturday morning.

Mr Higgins, looks set to be re-elected for a second term after exit polls suggested he had secured more than 56% of the vote.

An RTE exit poll predicted the 77-year-old received 58.1% of first-preference votes, while an Irish Times poll projected Mr Higgins topped the vote with 56%.

The results put controversial businessman and former Irish Dragons' Den star Peter Casey in second with about 20% of first-preference votes.

Mr Casey's support had been as low as 1% in opinion polls in the early stages of the campaign but his vote appears to have surged following his critical comments about the Travelling community and his assertions that there was a culture of welfare dependency in Ireland.

It means Mr Higgins is likely to be easily re-elected on the first count for a second seven-year term.

More than 3,400 people were interviewed for the RTE poll by Red C outside 138 polling stations across the country on Friday.

The results indicate Sinn Fein MEP Liadh Ni Riada received 7.4% of the vote, Senator Joan Freeman 6.3% and businessman and former Dragons' Den investor Sean Gallagher 5.5%.

The Irish Times poll, conducted by Ipsos/MRBI, questioned more than 4,300 voters outside 160 polling stations across the country.

Its results put Mr Gallagher at 7%, Ms Ni Riada on 8% and Ms Freeman on 6%.

The results of both polls, which were published when polling stations across the country closed on Friday night, indicate that Gavin Duffy, the third Dragon in the race, secured the lowest number of votes at 2%.

More than 3.2 million people were entitled to vote in 40 constituencies across the country.

As well as deciding who they wanted to see in Aras an Uachtarain for the next seven years, electorates were also asked whether they wanted to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish constitution.

The exit polls suggest that the referendum will be passed by a significant majority.

RTE's exit poll found that 71.1% said they had voted Yes and that 26.3% had voted No, while the Irish Times poll predicted that 69% had backed the proposal and 31% had voted against the change.

Opinion polls throughout the campaign consistently placed Mr Higgins as the favourite to win, despite being plagued by questions over presidential expenses.

During the campaign, Mr Higgins also came in for criticism over his use of the Government's jet to travel from Dublin to Belfast.

His nearest contender, Mr Casey, faced calls to withdraw after he claimed Travellers were simply people camping on someone else's land and that Ireland's recognition of them as members of an ethnic minority was a load of nonsense''.

Mr Gallagher is running for the presidency for a second time after a failed bid in 2011. He secured more than half a million first-time votes at the time.

During the campaign, however, he was pressed over what he had done in public life in the past seven years.

Ms Ni Riada was forced to reject claims that she did not support the HPV vaccine, Ms Freeman was quizzed on a 130,000 euro loan she had received from donors to fund her campaign, while Mr Duffy faced questioned over his past driving convictions.

Mr Higgins is the country's ninth president. He was elected in 2011.

If re-elected, the 77-year old will become the fifth president to serve for two terms. Four presidents - Sean T O'Kelly, Eamon de Valera, Patrick Hillery and Mary McAleese - served for 14 years.

Douglas Hyde, Ireland's first president, was elected in 1938.

A result is expected by Saturday evening.

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