The Green Party expects to secure a sizeable chunk of the vote in the upcoming poll, says Elaine Loughlin. The rise of a ‘green wave’ was the story of this year’s European and local elections. The signals are positive, the Greens had never exceeded 8% support in the Swords area prior to May’s local elections — however, this bounced to 11% in this year’s local elections. Overall the Greens hoovered up 10.3% of first-preference votes in the local elections in Cork City, so the party will see this as the point to reach this time around. The by-elections have no doubt come at the right time for the Green Party — it will give them an indication as to whether the crest of the green wave was reached back in May or whether their popularity is still growing.

Source: Irish Examiner November 19, 2019 05:15 UTC