Amid expectations that the contest for a new Labour leader could end in a dead heat, procedures are in place to allow the winner's name to be plucked from a hat. The cliff-hanger contest between former Ministers, Mr Ruairi Quinn and Mr Brendan Howlin, still hung on a handful of votes last night, fuelling speculation that the result could finish in a dead heat - 32 votes each.
If the first ballot does not produce a result, a second round of voting will be conducted. Should this fail to push one of the candidates into the lead, the two names will be put into a hat and the winner's name plucked out.
Fewer than half a dozen undecided voters will determine the choice of Labour's new party leader in tomorrow's secret ballot.
Sources in the party expressed misgivings that the contest should be decided in this manner, but they conceded that such a course would be unavoidable if two rounds of voting did not return a successor to Mr Dick Spring.
All members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, with the exception of the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison, will cast a vote along with the General Council. The total electorate comes to 64, and 33 votes are needed to win.
Supporters from the two camps anticipate that neither candidate will secure less than 30 votes at the end, leading to a knife-edge finish.
Both candidates have received individual boosts to their campaigns in recent days. While Mr Quinn was assisted by an opinion poll giving him a majority of public support, and a public declaration of backing from Labour Youth, Mr Howlin was nominated by the senior party figure, Mr Michael D. Higgins.
A signal that Mr Spring, who stepped down last Friday, may be supporting Mr Howlin was seen in the fact that the South Kerry TD, Ms Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, seconded his nomination.
However, sources in Mr Quinn's camp insisted that Mr Higgins's move did not surprise them as he had been expected to support Mr Howlin in any event. Up to the eve of nominations, Mr Higgins was not ruling out the possibility that he may be a candidate himself.
While support for each candidate is hard to determine among the General Council, it seems that Mr Howlin commands a majority of support among the PLP's 15 TDs, four senators and one MEP, Ms Bernie Malone.
Meanwhile, it has been agreed also that the two candidates should address tomorrow's joint meeting of the PLP and General Council for no more than four minutes. Their brief last-minute pitch will be followed by the secret ballot and the result should be known by 1 p.m.
Constituency council meetings have been taking place since the weekend to determine which contender voters should support. Canvassing was continuing throughout the State last night.