VOTE early and vote often. That mantra has been at the root of many successful Fianna Fáil campaigns.
Could it be that this wily celebrated campaign method has landed the soldiers of destiny back at the very top where they believe they belong?
On Thursday, August 29, The Irish Post set up an online poll asking our readers overseas who they would vote for, if allowed, in an Irish General Election.
The poll was cast against the backdrop of the Constitutional Convention and the campaign for an overseas vote in Presidential Elections for Irish citizens living abroad.
Poll results on Monday, September 2 shown on a pie chartBy 4pm on Monday, September 2, 230 votes had been cast and Fianna Fáil were limping along in second place with a share of just over 20 per cent.
Sinn Féin were by far and away the leading party with a 43.5 share of the vote, with Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party all returning single figure scores.
Later that afternoon, an Irish Post journalist interviewed Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly in relation to our story about the increase in the number of people emigrating from Ireland.
No mention of the poll was made but the Fianna Fáil vote enjoyed something of an electrical surge in the hours that followed, doubling, trebling and eventually, quadrupling their tally.
By the time the poll closed on Friday, September 6 at 3pm, Fianna Fáil had claimed 183 of the 481 votes cast, which converted into a pavement-pounding-Bertie Ahern-like 38 per cent of the total share, followed by Sinn Féin, runaway leaders, now demoted into second place with just under 33 per cent with 158 votes cast.
Poll results on Friday, September 6 shown in a pie chartFine Gael, Labour and the Greens achieved a collective 92 votes between them which converts into 34, 28 and 28 per cent respectively.
The number of people who said they would abstain from voting abroad was 48.
See More: Fianna Fáil, Irish In Britain, Vote From Abroad
