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Investigates Investigates Money Diaries The Journal TV Climate Crisis Cost of Living Road Safety Newsletters Temperature Check Inside the Newsroom The Journal Investigates Daft.ie Property Allianz Home The 42 Sport TG4 Entertainment The Explainer A deep dive into one big news story Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture have your say Or create a free account to join the discussion Advertisement More Stories Aontú leader Peadar TóibínRollingNews.ie spoiled vote 'I felt really strange doing it': Peadar Tóibín spoiled his vote and wrote in Maria Steen The Aontú leader said those parties had blocked other candidates from entering the race for “narrow political reasons”. 1.56pm, 25 Oct 2025 Share options AONTÚ LEADER PEADAR Tóibín has revealed he spoiled his vote for the presidential election. There has been a significant number of spoiled votes in the election, with many of the ballots also containing anti-government messages. The small field of candidates has drawn criticism of the nomination criteria for the post. To be eligible to run, a candidate must be over the age of 35 and have been nominated either by 20 members of the Oireachtas or four local authorities. No candidate was successful through the local authority route while an independent, Maria Steen, fell short of securing the necessary support from elected TDs and senators. Dissatisfaction with the nomination process and the choice of official candidates has led to some activists launching a “#SpoilTheVote” campaign. The Journal's Election Centre Some of those spoiling their ballots have written in the names of candidates who did not reach the nomination threshold, such as Steen. Advertisement Speaking to reporters at the RDS Simmonscourt count centre, Tóibín said: “I’m going to be brutally honest with you, and I feel weird even saying this, I spoiled my vote yesterday.” Tóibín said he drew three Xs beside the candidates and wrote in the name of Maria Steen instead. He said: “I felt really strange doing it, I felt in some way that it was nearly wrong doing it, but I had no choice in that ballot yesterday at all. “I had no way to exercise a political choice and I wanted to protest that.” Asked if he had undermined democracy by spoiling his own voting paper, Tóibín said: “Political choice is the essence of democracy. “The engineers of the absence of that political choice were Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and as a result they have led to what happened yesterday.” He said those parties had blocked other candidates from entering the race for “narrow political reasons”. Tóibín said the high amount of spoiled votes and low turnout meant there was a “major element of Irish society who felt they had no voice in the race”. He added: “In some constituencies those spoiled votes pushed Heather Humphreys back into third place, that is a major two fingers to the political establishment.” Tóibín also congratulated independent candidate Catherine Connolly ahead of her expected victory. Press Association View 16 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'I felt really strange doing it': Peadar Tóibín spoiled his vote and wrote in Maria Steen”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'I felt really strange doing it': Peadar Tóibín spoiled his vote and wrote in Maria Steen”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. 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