PAT COX cleared the first hurdle in his bid to win the Fine Gael nomination for the presidential election later this year when his application to join the party was accepted last night by the party’s executive council.
Mr Cox, the former president of the European Parliament, applied to join a Cork branch of the party last weekend. But as he had stood for election in the past as an Independent and for the Progressive Democrats, Fine Gael’s rules stated his application had to be ratified by the party’s executive council.
Some 20 members of the council – drawn from the parliamentary party, regions, and trustees – were at the meeting. Mr Cox’s application was raised by general secretary Tom Curran and the meeting agreed by consensus to accept the former MEP as a member.
According to a council member who was present, there was a brief discussion on the issue and one person present – not a full-time politician – spoke against the application. However, others stressed that Mr Cox joining Fine Gael was not tantamount to him becoming the party’s presidential candidate.
Following the acceptance, the council set a provisional date of Saturday, July 9th, for the internal electoral contest to choose the candidate. So far two candidates have declared their interest in the position: Dublin MEP Gay Mitchell and East MEP Mairead McGuinness.
Mr Cox was not available for comment last night but is expected to be involved in intense consultations over the next two days before making public his intentions on seeking the candidacy on Friday.
A senior party source, who supports Mr Cox, accepted that the entry of Mr Mitchell into the race has changed the dynamic and that Mr Cox will now have to conduct a “brilliant campaign” if he is to prevail over Mr Mitchell and Ms McGuinness.
The July 9th date for the election is earlier than had been anticipated and gives a limited time span to the former MEP for Munster to campaign.
The electoral college for a presidential election is a large one, comprising the party’s TDs, senators, and MEPs, all its country and town councillors, as well as all the members of the executive council.
The parliamentary party is seen as the most crucial component as under a weighted system, it has 70 per cent of the vote. The remaining vote is divided between councillors (20 per cent) and the executive council (10 per cent).
The source also indicated that Mr Cox and his supporters made the initial approach to the party with a view to exploring his candidacy rather than party officials approaching him. However, that version was disputed last night by a TD and a Senator, both of whom said they would prefer not to be named, who said they had no doubt that senior figures in the party would have made informal approaches to him in the past.
