Counting of votes in the Seanad election starts on Wednesday morning and all results should be in by Friday evening. The vocational panels will be counted in the restaurant at Leinster House under the returning officer, the clerk of the Seanad, Deirdre Lane. They start with cultural and educational and end with administrative.
There are 960 electors for each panel - the members of the incoming Dail, outgoing Seanad and county and town councils - and as proportional representation really comes into its own in such a keenly fought contest, fractions of votes can decide a seat. Forty-three senators are elected under this system.
Graduates of the NUI and of Trinity College elect three senators each. Nine candidates are running for the NUI but on previous form only about 50 per cent of the 93,000 registered electors will cast their vote. The count takes place in the Royal College of Surgeons on St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and if the votes are evenly spread between the nine, rather than concentrating on the leading candidates, the count could continue well into Thursday. Ditto the situation at the Examination Hall in the Front Square at Trinity, where 10 candidates are standing. Although the poll is expected to be a tiny 15,000 votes, it could go into Thursday depending on the spread.
The Seanad strength will be made up to 60 when the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern names his 11 nominees in the autumn. Under an agreement to back FF candidates instead of contesting the Seanad elections the PDs will get four. Both Ahern and Mary Harney will come under intense pressure from potential nominees during the next weeks.
Often the seats are given to potential Dail victors or as rewards for outstanding work for the party, and at least one of the 11 will be from the North.