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Independent UKThe Twee man steals show in Irish presidential race
He started as favourite, lost the lead to a celebrity but staged a comeback after a TV showdown
David McKittrick
Sunday, 30 October 2011
AP
Michael D Higgins is congratulated by his wife, Sabina, after his victory
A veteran left-wing human rights activist and campaigner for the arts declared himself yesterday to be "a little overwhelmed" on becoming Ireland's President in waiting after a campaign notable for mud-slinging and unprecedented volatility among voters. Michael D Higgins will be inaugurated on Armistice Day, 11 November, the day after Mary McAleese, the serving President, leaves office.
Mr Higgins, a 70-year-old poet and member of the Irish Labour Party, was elected by a handsome margin, although a few days before votes were cast on Thursday, he was trailing a previously unknown candidate.
The irony is that Irish voters, who throughout the campaign were clearly seeking a person of independence because of widespread disillusion with politics, wound up electing a figure from one of the conventional parties.
However, the new president is regarded as a fairly unconventional politician, noticeably to the left in Irish terms. He is something of an iconoclast, has a pronounced independent streak and is by no means a creature of the establishment.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-twee-man-steals-show-in-irish-presidential-race-2377774.html
a poet, a poet,
a poet.....
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Michael D. Higgins, a 70-year-old poet and politician, was elected Ireland's new president on Saturday.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/29/world/europe/ireland-presidential-election/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055197/Irish-presidential-election-2011-Tweet-changed-course-just-bit-fun.html?ito=feeds-newsxmlhttp://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/10/29/ex-culture-minister-elected-as-new-irelands-new-president/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1031/1224306806812.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/28/michael-d-higgins-ireland-president?intcmp=239