Left-wing standard-bearer Catherine Connolly will be Ireland's new president.

MADRID (EUROPA PRESS) - Catherine Connolly will be the new president of Ireland according to the official, still partial, count being released after Friday's elections, which confirmed a defeat for the center-right coalition of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, represented by former Minister of Social Protection Heather Humphreys, who has already conceded defeat.

Humphreys congratulated his rival, who "will be the next president of Ireland." "Catherine will be president for all of us. She will be my president, and I would like to wish her the very best," he declared, according to Irish public television, RTE.

"I have absolutely no regrets," Humphreys added. "This is what democracy is. People put their names on a ballot and move on. I'm satisfied," she emphasized.

Humphreys has also criticized "sectarian attacks" in reference to his family, whose religion and traditions are Presbyterian Protestant. "My family and I, but especially my family, have suffered sectarian attacks, and I've been disappointed because I thought we had moved past that as a country," he said.

"I think there's a need to better understand other betrayals in this country, and perhaps that's something I can contribute to because there are many misunderstandings, and if we're going to have a united Ireland, we'll have to respect all traditions," he added, referring to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

After four of Ireland's 43 constituencies were counted, Connolly obtained 60.7 percent of the vote, compared to 30.9 percent for Humphreys and 8.4 percent for Conservative Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin, despite Gavin withdrawing his candidacy on October 5 to support Humphreys.

Preliminary polls had already predicted victory for Connolly, a 68-year-old representative of the Irish left (although she has run as an independent), in an election that, if confirmed by the official results in the coming hours, will make her the tenth president of Ireland; a seemingly ceremonial position, but one that offers ample opportunities to express popular sentiment.

Connolly has accused NATO of engaging in warmongering practices, compared Germany's arms spending to that of the 1930s, voted against EU treaties, and asserted that Hamas is "part of the social fabric of the Palestinian people." In this regard, Connolly unreservedly denounced the genocide in Gaza caused by Israeli attacks and promised to travel to Palestine as Irish president to personally declare her support for the population.

If all expectations are met, he will succeed poet and former minister Michael D. Higgins, who has reached his two-term limit.

Many spoiled votes with complaints and threats

Irish Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik celebrated the potential victory of Connolly—who began her political career in that party—but drew attention to the large number of spoiled votes cast when voters wrote their complaints about the situation in the country on the ballot paper, and even threatened public officials.

"First, we have to take it seriously. We have to look at people's concerns and why they felt unrepresented by the candidates in this election," he explained to RTE before condemning some of the messages, which had a markedly "anti-democratic" bent.

"The level of vitriol directed at people of all political persuasions in some of these spoiled ballots is truly alarming, and I think it means we need to take that threat very seriously," he warned.

The "Let's Ruin the Vote" campaign calls for "a reasoned response to the growing public concern about the lack of real options in the presidential elections," according to the group's website.

The governing parties have a female candidate, they point out, while "only one independent, left-wing candidate, Catherine Connolly, has been allowed to stand, with no centrist or center-right candidate representing this significant portion of the electorate."