Left-leaning independent Connolly wins Irish presidential election

LONDON (AP) — Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, who secured the backing of Ireland's left-leaning parties including Sinn Féin, has won the country's presidential election in a landslide victory against her center-right rival.

Official results showed strong voter support for Connolly as president, a largely ceremonial role in Ireland. She won 63% of first-preference votes once spoiled votes were excluded, compared to 29% of her rival Heather Humphreys, of the center-right party Fine Gael.

Connolly, 68, said Saturday evening at Dublin Castle that she would champion diversity and be a voice for peace and one that “builds on our policy of neutrality.”

“I would be an inclusive president for all of you, and I regard it as an absolute honor," she said.

Humphreys conceded she had lost earlier Saturday before vote counting had finished.

Connolly, a former barrister who has served as a lawmaker since 2016, has been outspoken in criticizing Israel over the war in Gaza. She has also warned against the European Union's growing “militarization" following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ireland has a tradition of military neutrality, but her critics have said she risks alienating the country's allies.

Connolly will succeed Michael D. Higgins, who has been president since 2011, having served the maximum two seven-year terms. She will be Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the post.

The politician has garnered the backing of a range of left-leaning parties, including Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin on Saturday congratulated Connolly on her “very comprehensive election victory." He said he was looking forward to working with the new president as “Ireland continues to play a significant role on the global stage, and as we look forward to hosting the EU presidency in the second half of 2026."

Irish presidents represent the country on the world stage, host visiting heads of state and play an important constitutional role, but they do not have executive powers such as shaping laws or policies.

Nonetheless, parties on the left celebrated the results as a significant shift in Irish politics.

“We have seen a real appetite for the change that Catherine represents,” said Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik. “We believe this really does mean a new sort of politics is possible, that we can now realize the ambition that I talked about a year ago: The real prospect of a center-left-led government after the next general election.”

Connolly and Humphreys were the only contenders after Jim Gavin, the candidate for Martin’s Fianna Fail party, quit the race three weeks before the election over a long-ago financial dispute.

Martin, who heads Ireland’s government, had personally backed Gavin as a presidential candidate. Though Gavin had stopped campaigning, his name remained on the ballot paper because of his late withdrawal from the race. He won 7% of first preference votes.

Others — including musician Bob Geldof and the former mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor — had indicated they wished to run for president but failed to receive enough backing for a nomination.

The electoral commission said Saturday that there was a “significantly higher than normal” number of spoiled ballots, and that there will “clearly be a need for deeper and further reflection” about voter dissatisfaction.

Simon Harris, the deputy premier, said the spoiled ballots showed “the number of people in Ireland now who are clearly feeling disaffected or disconnected with politics." He said officials will be looking at the possibility of changing the threshold needed to secure a nomination in future presidential elections.

About 46% of the 3.6 million eligible voters turned out to vote. There were nearly 214,000 invalid ballots nationwide, representing a tenfold increase on the last presidential election in 2018.

Left-wing independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly arrives at Dublin Castle for the count in Ireland's presidential election to replace Michael D. Higgins, who has served the maximum two seven-year terms, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Left-wing independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly arrives at Dublin Castle for the count in Ireland's presidential election to replace Michael D. Higgins, who has served the maximum two seven-year terms, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Left-wing independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly arrives at Dublin Castle for the count in Ireland's presidential election to replace Michael D. Higgins, who has served the maximum two seven-year terms, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Counting gets under way for the Irish presidential election in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting gets under way after Friday's voting in the Irish presidential election at the RDS, Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly casts her vote in the election for the next Irish president at Claddagh National School in Galway city, Ireland, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly casts her vote in the election for the next Irish president at Claddagh National School in Galway city, Ireland, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Counting gets under way after Friday's voting in the Irish presidential election at the RDS, Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests that drew a bloody crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump — evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.

Trump, though, struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran's leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, in a further sign he may be backing away from a military strike. Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible action against Iran.

Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.

There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.

“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that "I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”

Trump did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the state of any planned executions.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll at 3,090. The number, which exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution, continues to rise. The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll. Iran’s government has not provided casualty figures.

In contrast, the sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”

Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” He said Netanyahu and Trump should await "hard revenge from the system.”

“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace," the cleric said.

His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel's Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia had previously kept largely quiet about the protests. Moscow has watched several key allies suffer blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its 4-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.

Days after Trump pledged “help is on its way” for the protesters, both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent U.S. retaliation appeared to have receded. One diplomat told The Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the U.S. to make good on its pledge to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president's promise of assistance.

“I believe the president is a man of his word," Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that "regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.“

“I will return to Iran,” he vowed. Hours later, he urged protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.

Despite support by diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi has struggled to gain wider appeal within Iran. But that has not stopped him from presenting himself as the transitional leader of Iran if the government were to fall.

Khatami, the hard-line cleric, also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran's theocracy — were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.

He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.

Even as protests appeared to have been smothered inside Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters have taken to the streets in cities across Europe to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic.

Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.

“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.

Also crossing the border were some Turkish citizens escaping the unrest in Iran.

Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textiles business when the protests erupted. He said he laid low in his hotel until it was shut for security reasons, then stayed with one of his customers until he was able to return to Turkey.

Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.

“I understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,” he said. “The guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine guns.”

In a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests.

A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.” The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.

Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Will Weissert and Darlene Superville in Washington and Serra Yedikardes at the Kapikoy Border Crossing, Turkey, contributed.

Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi speaks during a news conference on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A woman crosses an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles drive in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A street vendor adjusts clothes for sale in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles drive in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami delivers his sermon during Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)