Leo Varadkar, the frontrunner in the Fine Gael leadership race, has said he will move immediately after the contest ends on Friday to ensure no divisions emerge in the party in the wake of his battle with Simon Coveney.
Mr Varadkar told supporters in Meath last night that, irrespective of the outcome, he and Mr Coveney would sit down to ensure the party remains strong and unified.
Should Mr Varadkar win, it is expected Mr Coveney will be offered the role of tánaiste.
- FG leadership tracker: track the contest and check who your local TD, Senator, MEP and councillor is supporting
The Minister for Social Protection was visiting the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan, where party members from the two Co Meath constituencies cast their votes in the leadership election.
Mr Varadkar said he was ahead in two of the three colleges (among the Fine Gael parliamentary party and councillors) but would like to win the majority backing of the 21,000 members as well.
“If I were to win the vote among the membership, it would give me an exceptionally strong mandate as leader,” he said.
Members voted in five constituencies last night: Louth, Meath, Galway, Roscommon and Limerick. The turnout of members is expected to be between 50 and 55 per cent.
Electoral weight
While Mr Varadkar’s supporters say he is competitive among the members, the likelihood is Mr Coveney will prevail in that college, which comprises 25 per cent of the total electoral weight.
The Irish Times tracker of the leadership race shows that Mr Varadkar has a commanding lead among the 73 parliamentarians, with 46 declared supporters compared to 21 for Mr Coveney.
However, sources in Mr Coveney’s camp say at least two have changed allegiance in private over the past few days. Only six members of the parliamentary party have not declared their voting intentions.
Mr Varadkar has the support of 119 of the 234 party councillors , with Mr Coveney on 73, giving the Dublin West TD 50 per cent of that college.
Among the members, supporters of Mr Coveney have claimed that the result will tilt decisively towards the Minister for Housing.
They claim 70 per cent backing among the membership but that has been disputed by Mr Varadkar’s camp which has said the result could be much closer.
Switching allegiance
However, even if the result among members gave Mr Coveney a clear-cut lead, he would still have to convince at least six parliamentarians to switch allegiance to have any hope of overturning his rival’s advantage.
One of his most senior supporters accepted last night that it was a slim possibility but insisted the campaign would continue.
The final day of voting among members will be on Thursday with parliamentary party members voting on Friday morning with the polls closing at noon.
The count is expected to commence in the early afternoon with a final result expected at 6pm.
Mr Coveney spent most of the day in the Dáil on Wednesday but is expected to canvass on Friday. Members will vote in Cork, Clare, Wicklow, Tipperary, Wexford and Sligo on Thursday night.
Bookmakers make Mr Varadkar odds-on favourite to win the contest to succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
