On June 7th, the Local and European elections will take place.
There will be many candidates putting their names on the ballot paper seeking your vote, and the choice is all yours when you walk into the polling booth on the day.
But who can put their name before us on the ballot papers for both the Local and European elections? Who can put themselves forward to be your local county councillor or MEP?
There are 30 elected councillors on Mayo County Council and they are selected across six electoral areas in the county – Castlebar has 7 councillors, Ballina and Claremorris – 6 councillors each, both Swinford and Westport return 4 councillors each, and the smallest electoral area in Mayo is Belmullet with 3 councillors.
5 MEPS will be elected in this Midlands North West Constituency - a constituency that covers 15 counties. The 5 Connaught counties, together with Cavan, Donegal, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly.
So who is entitled to contest the various constituencies? - again we ask a man who has extensive experience and knowledge on how our PR - proportional representation system - democracy works – Padraig Hughes is a former Mayo County Secretary, he has acted as Returning Officer for Urban, County and Dail elections and is involved in training for Returning officers nationally for many years.
Who can put their name on the ballot paper?
If you have a question on elections for Padraig just contact the newsroom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ring us at 0949630985