Boxes open at Limerick count centre ahead of weekend of high political drama

COUNTING staff have opened the first boxes at Limerick Racecourse in what’s expected to be a weekend of high political drama. Tens of thousands of votes cast locally in the European, local and mayoral elections are being sorted and separated. European election ballot papers are being transferred by army personnel to Cork – where counting in the Ireland South constituency kicks off on Monday. Votes for the election of Limerick’s first executive mayor are being separated from local council votes. An army of tallymen and women are hard at work here in the count centre for the next few hours observing the way the votes have gone in the local and mayoral election. They will feed back their results, which are expected to give a good indication of how both the mayoral and local elections have gone. PICTURES: Craic and banter is mighty ahead of Munster final And we are under way at #LimerickCount. Expecting first tallies this side of 10am. pic.twitter.com/fxTSUEXB2L — Nick Rabbitts (@Nick468official) June 8, 2024 Once the sorting of votes have been completed, staff will begin the count for the six constituencies which make up Limerick City and County Council. It’s expected this will get under way at around 5pm. Council results are expected to trickle in throughout Saturday evening and into Sunday, with counting of all the areas taking place at the same time. A full picture of how the next local authority will look is expected by late on Sunday night. Then on Monday morning, the count for the historic election of Limerick’s first directly elected mayor is expected to get under way – however, as always, we are at the mercy of events. By law, the results of Limerick City and County Council must be declared before a single vote can be counted in the mayoral election – so successful requests for recounts may delay proceedings. As it stands, we should know the first ever directly elected mayor of Limerick by Monday night. result in this count is expected that evening. Limerick Live is providing extensive coverage online, including a dedicated live blog on our web site, www.limericklive.ie Our live blog kicks off at 12noon.