The way people vote in local elections, and their motivations, have, changed considerably, and it is a trend mainstream parties need to take heed of.
This is the view of Fianna Fáil’s Michael J Crowe, the third candidate to be elected in the city on Saturday, and the first FFer to take a seat.
“I feel great, privileged, to have won a seat,” Cllr Crowe told the Galway Advertiser, “but this was a very different election from 2004 and 2009. People were looking more towards Independents and Sinn Féin and that’s how it turned out. I had two Independents in front of me and Sinn Féin coming up behind me.”
Cllr Crowe said this local election, more than any other he has been in, has seen a change in how people approach their vote, with national issues having a much greater influence on people’s decision making than previously in council elections, where the votes were based solely on local issues.
“National issues affected how people thought in this local elections,” he says, “and it shows how times have changed. Many people had their minds made up that they would vote Independent or Sinn Féin, even if they did not know much about the candidate, they were determined to send a message and vote along different lines.”
Cllr Crowe says that this is a new phenomenon in local elections and that it is something FF, FG, and Labour need to pay heed to.
“This is a new trend,” he says. “It’s a point the mainstream parties have to take on board. There was no trace of this in 2004, a little in 2009, but we have seen it very much this time. The nature of local elections have changed.”
