Irish lawmaker Clare Daly, a strong supporter of China, loses her European Parliament seat
- Daly was one of Beijing’s staunchest EU defenders since first being elected MEP in 2019
Clare Daly, the rabble-rousing Irish lawmaker who became one of the Chinese government’s staunchest defenders in the European Parliament, has lost her seat after a prolonged election count in Dublin.
Daly, an independent MEP since 2019 and affiliated with the parliament’s Left Group, was eliminated on the 17th count in the capital constituency.
Having polled poorly ahead of the pan-European election, Daly failed to gain enough vote transfers in Ireland’s complicated proportional representation system, which allows votes cast for one candidate to be transferred to a subsequent choice when they are eliminated.
The results came despite Daly’s large online presence and backing from a range of big names.
Along with political bedfellow MEP Mick Wallace, Daly was backed in the European election by celebrities including Hollywood star Susan Sarandon and the Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox. Daly had garnered a substantial following on TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter, bolstered by her unyielding support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Wallace, a former property developer and vineyard owner known for his trademark pink shirts and unkempt grey hair, still has a chance of picking up the fourth seat in the Ireland South constituency, with counting there set to stretch into a fourth day on Wednesday.
