The 1966 Irish presidential election was the fifth

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in Ireland and was held on Wednesday, 1 June 1966. Incumbent

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

, 83 and with a rapidly deteriorating eyesight, standing for

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

was narrowly re-elected, with

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

candidate

Tom O'Higgins Thomas Francis O'Higgins (23 July 1916 – 25 February 2003) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1974 to 1985, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1985 to 1991, a Judge of ...

coming within 1% (or 10,718 votes) of defeating de Valera.

Nomination process

Under Article 12 of the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditi ...

, a candidate for president may be nominated by: *at least twenty of the 204 serving members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or *at least four of 31 councils of the administrative counties, including county boroughs, or *themselves, in the case of a former or retiring president. On 27 April, the Minister for Local Government made the order for the presidential election, with noon on 10 May as the date for nominations, and 1 June as the date of polling. Independent broadcaster and genealogist Eoin "the Pope" O'Mahony, who had sought and failed to be nominated in 1959, tried again, unsuccessfully. He wrote to local authorities and was allowed to address eleven. He fell short of the requisite four nominations: only

North Tipperary County Council North Tipperary County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Thiobraid Árann Thuaidh) was the authority responsible for local government in the county of North Tipperary, Ireland. The council had 21 elected members. The head of the council had the ti ...

vote in his favour, and later reversed the decision;

Wicklow County Council Wicklow County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae Chill Mhantáin) is the authority responsible for local government in County Wicklow, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...

fell one vote short. As president, Éamon de Valera had the right to nominate himself for a second term, but he chose to be nominated by

, the party he had led from 1926 until his election in 1959. Then Fianna Fáil leader and

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Seán Lemass Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...

had urged de Valera not to retire, as he had been considering. De Valera's campaign manager was

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

, later to become Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach.

nominated

, who had served as a TD since 1948, and was 49 at the time of the election.

Gerard Sweetman Hugh Gerard Sweetman (20 June 1908 – 28 January 1970) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1954 to 1957. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kildare constituency from 1948 to 1970. He was a Senator fo ...

served as his election director. De Valera did not campaign, and to maintain balance, RTÉ chose not to cover the campaign of O'Higgins either.

Result

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Presidential Election, 1966 1966 elections in the Republic of Ireland 1966 in Irish politics Charles Haughey Éamon de Valera Presidential elections in Ireland June 1966 events in Europe