There are 47 candidates from Westmeath running in this year’s local election on Friday, 7 June.
A poll for the election of members in each Local Electoral Area (LEA) will be taken on Friday, 7 June between 7am and 10pm. 13 are running in the Mullingar LEA with 16 in the Kinnegad LEA, 8 in the Moate LEA 11 in the Athlone LEA. 32 male candidates and 16 female candidates are running in this year’s elections. The majority of female candidates in Westmeath are from the Mullingar and Kinnegad LEAs where 14 are running in total.
34 out of the 47 candidates come from mainstream parties including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, Labour, the Green Party, Social Democrats and Aontú. Just over a quarter of the candidates are running as independent candidates or come from new parties including Ireland First, Independent Ireland, the Irish People Party and the Irish Freedom Party.
Fianna Fáil has the most candidates running in Westmeath with 10 followed by Fine Gael in second with eight. Sinn Féin has the third highest number of candidates with seven. Six independent candidates are running in this year’s elections. Labour has put four candidates forward as Ireland First and the Green Party have three candidates each. Independent Ireland has put two candidates forward. Social Democrats, Aontú, the Irish People Party and the Irish Freedom Party all have one candidate each.
Mullingar
There are seven male candidates and six female candidates running in Mullingar for this year’s election. Fianna Fáil has the highest number of candidates in Mullingar with three. Fine Gael and Sinn Féin are joint second with two while there are also two independent candidates. There is one candidate each from Labour, Ireland First, Social Democrats and the Green Party. Six of the candidates are current councillors running for reelection.
Kinnegad
Current councillors Frank McDermott, Paddy Hill and John Shaw have chosen not to run in this year’s election which opens up the Kinnegad LEA for new voices. This has perhaps led to the unusually high number of 16 candidates running in the area which is the highest in the county.
There is an even gender split with eight female and eight male candidates running in Kinnegad. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have three candidates each running in Kinnegad. There is one independent candidate running in the Kinnegad LEA. Independent Ireland, Ireland First, Labour, The Irish People, Aontú and Green Party all have one candidate each running. There is also one independent candidate running. Two current councillors are running in the Kinnegad LEA.
Moate
Moate has the lowest number of candidates running in this year’s election and is the only LEA where there are no female candidates. Fianna Fáil has two candidates running in Moate as Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, the Irish Freedom Party and Labour all put one candidate forward. There is one independent candidate running in the Moate LEA. Five current councillors are running for reelection in the area.
Athlone
There are nine male candidates and two female candidates running in the Athlone LEA. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil both have two candidates in this year’s election. Two independent candidates are in the running as Sinn Féin, the Green Party, Independent Ireland, Labour and the Irish Freedom Party all put one candidate forward. Five current councillors are running for reelection on Friday, 7 June. Cllr Paul Hogan is running in both the Moate LEA and the Athlone LEA.