Sligo-Leitrim Count Nine: Casserly's distribution boosts Harkin to fourth place

Count nine brought promising news for Marian Harkin (IND), as Marie Casserly's (IND) distribution brought her 1,103 more votes.

She is in fourth place after count nine, 506 votes behind Michael Clarke (II) and 144 votes in front of Chris MacManus (SF).

Harkin isn't likely to receive as high of a number from distributions than this. Paddy O'Rourke (FF) has been eliminated in count nine, with his distributions likely to transfer to Eamon Scanlon (FF), who is 456 votes behind Harkin. Edel McSharry (FF) looks to be at risk of elimination in count ten, and if this is the case, her transfers will boost Scanlon further.

As Harkin's case has improved, it still looks like she'll need a miracle to retain her seat.

Paddy O'Rourke has been eliminated, with his 4,406 votes being distributed in count ten.

Frank Feighan (FG) is nearing the finishing line, and will be elected in the next few counts.

The following are vote numbers per candidate after count nine:

Frank Feighan (+473) - 10,216 

Martin Kenny (+210) - 8,927 

Michael Clarke (+418) - 7,297

Eamon Scanlon (+198)  - 6,335 

Chris MacManus (+278) - 6,647 

Edel McSharry (+442) - 5,390 

Marian Harkin (+1103)  - 6,791

Paddy O'Rourke (+46) - 4,406 (eliminated)

READ MORE: Sligo-Leitrim Count Eight: Harkin makes gains in distributions of Cosgrove's vote