Eurolink News

Gay prepares for “one hell of a campaign”

July 13, 2011 at 3:01 pm Leave a comment

Dublin MEP and Fine Gael’s presidential candidate Gay Mitchell has been instructed by the Taoiseach to get the most from the week-long summer holiday he has planned with his wife Norma before facing the rigours of the election campaign in the autumn.
“Take your holidays and be anonymous and enjoy it, because, believe you me, when you come back, you’d better be ready for one hell of a campaign,” said Taoiseach Enda Kenny after Fine Gael chose Mr Mitchell to run for the Áras in the election, which has been pencilled in for October 21st.
After two counts, Mr Mitchell secured 54 per cent of the Fine Gael vote, while his main rival and party colleague Mairead McGuinness got 46 per cent, and former European Parliament President Pat Cox was eliminated after the first count.
The victorious Mr Mitchell said he would be spending most of his campaign “around the country, meeting people” and seeking to broaden his appeal to the whole of the community. “The president of Ireland has to be a president for all the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek declined to comment on the nomination of Gay Mitchell, an MEP from his own political EPP group, for the Irish presidential race. Speaking to journalists in Drogheda during his official visit to this country, Mr Buzek said, “I’m representing my colleagues from the European Parliament, and this will be the decision of the Irish people. So you must ask your own Irish MEPs about this sort of thing, but not myself,” he laughed.

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