The 1945 Irish presidential election was held on Thursday, 14 June 1945. It was Ireland's first contested presidential election. Outgoing president Douglas Hyde, who had served since 1938, did not seek a second term. Fianna Fáil nominated its deputy leader, Tánaiste Seán T. O'Kelly, as its candidate. Fine Gael nominated Seán Mac Eoin. Independent republican Patrick McCartan sought and failed to receive the necessary four nominations from local councils, but secured a nomination from Oireachtas members.
O'Kelly won on the second count but the degree of voting transfers between the two opposition candidates, and O'Kelly's failure to win on the first count, showed the depth of growing opposition to Éamon de Valera's government and the potential that existed for cooperation among various opposition groups. De Valera's government was defeated in the subsequent 1948 general election and succeeded by the first inter-party government.
The election took place on the same date as the 1945 local elections. Electoral law was amended to allow administrative counties and county boroughs to be used as constituencies instead of using Dáil constituencies, as previously required. This was to facilitate sorting and counting of ballots with ballots for the local elections.
Nomination process Under Article 12 of the Constitution of Ireland, candidates could be nominated by: at least twenty of the 198 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or at least four of 31 councils of the administrative counties, including county boroughs, or themselves, in the case of a former or retiring president.
All Irish citizens on the Dáil electoral register were eligible to vote.
The first candidate nominated was Seán Mac Eoin, a Fine Gael TD who was nominated on 5 May by 17 members of his own party, as well as three independent TDs, Alfie Byrne, Tom O'Reilly and Richard Anthony. Seán T. O'Kelly was nominated by Fianna Fáil Oireachtas members on 15 May. On the date before nominations closed on 16 May, the administrative council of the Labour Party voted to allow its Oireachtas members to sign the nomination form of Patrick McCartan, and Clann na Talmhan voted that its Oireachtas members would sign his nomination form, together guaranteeing his position on the ballot.
Result
Results by local authority Results were announced by county councils and county borough corporations rather than by constituency. + First count votesLocal AuthorityO'KellyMac EoinMcCartanVotes%Votes%Votes%Carlow County6,17846.765,19739.331,83813.91Cavan County14,50049.2911,88340.403,03210.31Clare County22,91057.7310,79627.205,97915.07Cork County49,73744.0938,91134.4924,16321.42Cork County Borough13,87550.259,02532.684,71417.07Donegal County24,99954.3813,13728.587,83417.04Dublin County16,20643.0011,66530.959,81526.04Dublin County Borough70,77745.9439,27325.4944,02728.57Galway County32,49657.6612,71322.5611,15319.79Kerry County20,58956.777,18019.808,50023.44Kildare County11,42654.116,73131.882,95814.01Kilkenny County13,43753.608,15832.543,47613.86Laois County8,94645.855,68329.124,88425.03Leitrim County8,06439.529,34445.802,99514.68Limerick County22,72555.8813,18332.424,75811.70Limerick County Borough9,31856.184,73128.522,53815.30Longford County5,84835.0910,17061.036463.88Louth County13,68549.329,39533.864,66816.82Mayo County27,26050.0814,67226.9512,50522.97Meath County14,08358.026,78427.953,40614.03Monaghan County13,04254.386,87828.684,06216.94Offaly County10,58053.135,19926.114,13620.77Roscommon County15,35447.6211,74736.435,14015.94Sligo County10,28839.7212,02646.433,59013.86Tipperary North County12,47752.097,53031.443,94616.47Tipperary South County15,94050.4510,49933.235,15516.32Waterford County10,98058.855,19827.862,48113.30Waterford County Borough5,89852.193,26728.912,13518.89Westmeath County10,30347.529,74144.931,6367.55Wexford County16,38046.8710,08228.858,48824.29Wicklow County9,66442.804,74121.008,17636.21 Total537,96549.52335,53930.89212,83419.59 + Second count resultLocal AuthorityO'KellyMac EoinVotes%Votes%Carlow County6,61552.416,00747.59Cavan County15,01052.8213,40647.18Clare County23,66863.0013,90237.00Cork County52,35049.8452,68850.16Cork County Borough14,50455.5011,62744.50Donegal County25,88161.4416,24438.56Dublin County17,31748.2918,54651.71Dublin County Borough76,11952.8467,94747.16Galway County33,65365.4217,78834.58Kerry County21,62765.0911,59934.91Kildare County11,86958.638,37641.37Kilkenny County13,92157.8610,14042.14Laois County9,54054.597,93745.41Leitrim County8,49744.4310,62655.57Limerick County and County Borough33,12760.2821,82839.72Longford County5,97436.2910,48663.71Louth County14,31254.4211,98745.58Mayo County28,41857.8620,69542.14Meath County14,65562.808,68037.20Monaghan County13,67161.878,42738.13Offaly County11,67262.706,94437.30Roscommon County15,85352.2214,50747.78Sligo County10,85744.2513,67655.75Tipperary North County13,08257.529,66042.48Tipperary South County16,69655.2413,53144.76Waterford County11,25162.826,65837.18Waterford County Borough6,21557.824,53342.18Westmeath County10,62050.1710,54849.83Wexford County17,20953.3215,06546.68Wicklow County10,98253.979,36746.03 Total 565,16555.49453,42544.51
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