(MENAFN) Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, a longtime advocate for Irish military neutrality and a vocal critic of NATO expansion and EU militarization, has secured a decisive victory in Ireland’s presidential election.

The ballot count was still ongoing when Connolly’s main opponent, Heather Humphreys, conceded after early results showed her trailing by a wide margin. Preliminary tallies placed Connolly ahead 63% to 29%.

“Catherine will be a president for all of us and she will be my president,” Humphreys told journalists.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin also formally congratulated Connolly, describing what he called “a very comprehensive election victory.”

Though running as an independent, the 68-year-old former Galway mayor received backing from major left-wing parties, including Sinn Fein and Labour.

Analysts attribute Connolly’s success to strong youth support, effective outreach, and a robust social media presence, amplified by public frustration over Ireland’s housing and cost-of-living crises.

Throughout her campaign, Connolly emphasized Ireland’s neutrality and criticized the EU’s push toward militarization at the expense of social welfare. While condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, she has also argued that NATO “warmongering” contributed to the crisis.

Last month, Connolly drew a controversial historical parallel, comparing Germany’s economic strategy of “championing the cause of the military industrial complex” to its rearmament in the 1930s under the Nazis. “Seems to me, there are some parallels with the ‘30s,” she said during a discussion at University College Dublin.

Moscow has long criticized Brussels’ accelerating military buildup, warning that the EU risks becoming an aggressive military and political extension of NATO.

While largely a symbolic role in Ireland’s parliamentary democracy, the presidency does carry specific powers, including the ability to refer bills to the nation’s top court for constitutional review and to dissolve the lower chamber of parliament and call elections if a prime minister loses majority support.

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