Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon has made it clear she will be calling for another referendum on abortion after taking the third seat in the Connacht-Ulster Euro constituency from Fianna Fail.
Dana, who beat off a strong challenge from the other Independent candidate, Ms Marian Harkin, said she believed "the voice of the majority of the people are asking for a referendum".
Her victory was assured from lunchtime yesterday as the votes of the eliminated Fianna Fail candidate, Mr Noel Treacy, were being distributed. Dana took more than 8,000 of Mr Treacy's 48,000 votes and this gave her a clear lead of more than 7,000 over Ms Harkin.
Fianna Fail's Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher was elected on the fifth count, and both Mr Joe McCartin of Fine Gael, returning to the European Parliament for his fifth term, and Dana were elected on the sixth count. Dana took nearly 5,000 transfers from Mr Gallagher's surplus.
At the count centre in Bundoran, the former Eurovision song contest winner said she did not have policies but would "listen to the people" and be a voice for them. She said she wanted another referendum on abortion.
"I have been continually asking for that because the people have been asking for that, and there is an equation here between the people asking for the pro-life referendum and the people asking for a referendum on PfP.
"In both of those cases, if the voices of the majority of the people are asking for a referendum, why are they not getting it?" she added.
Many of Dana's campaign organisers and supporters who were in Bundoran yesterday played an active role in anti-divorce and anti-abortion campaigns in the region in the past.
Mr Michael McElwee, her campaign director in north Donegal, said he believed Fianna Fail had misjudged the electorate. "If people in Fianna Fail had recognised that there are people out there who want family values, this would not have happened."
Fianna Fail sources were privately admitting that members of the party had actively supported Dana's campaign. They said they were up against an "invisible campaign" involving people from a number of right-wing organisations, and that there was no indication on the doorstep that Dana would poll so well.
Mr Treacy rejected the suggestion that the party had lost touch with more traditional voters, but said he was baffled by the result. Fianna Fail had campaigned on policies relevant to the European Parliament, and "others maybe had different agendas".
Mr Treacy said he could not understand Dana's victory. "This woman has come in from abroad and she is here now for the first time and she is elected. It is a tremendous feat, but I don't understand the reasons for it. I'm baffled."
After his elimination late on Sunday night, Mr Treacy said he believed there had been "an invisible factor" at work in the election, which he did not understand and which had benefited the two Independent women candidates.
Dana said she could not yet say which group she would be joining in the European Parliament. She had been in discussions with three groupings and would decide within a week, she said.
She believed she was "mainstream" and while divorce was needed in some circumstances "for women to protect themselves and to provide for their children", society would fragment if divorce laws were liberalised.
"It is a universally accepted truth that where you have strong families, you have strong society."
Dana said she believed her win was a victory for people who felt disenfranchised from the larger political parties, and that it showed a big party machine was not necessary to get elected.
In her acceptance speech, Dana said she wanted to act as "a watchdog for the people of Connacht-Ulster".
People had to have the basic human right to work, and to have a roof over their heads. "But there has to be a balance between what is economically viable and what is socially necessary for people. We need ethics and values and principles. We need to uphold the right of the people of Connacht-Ulster to have the final say in how they live and work and educate their children," she said.
Dana told The Irish Times she did not have policies. "As an Independent, you don't have policies, parties have policies. My policy is going to be to respond to the needs of people on the ground. There are so many policies out there that haven't worked. What we need is to make the policies work and to make sure that people get their fair share."
She said there was an obvious need for infrastructural improvements and to make sure funding came to Connacht-Ulster.