Michael Martin Voted Fianna Fail Leader

As expected, the former Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has been elected as the new leader of Fianna Fáil.

Mr Martin, (pictured left) whose bid for leadership against Brian Cowen (on right) was defeated only last week, today won a secret ballot of the parliamentary party to become the eighth leader of the party.

Early reports suggest Mr Martin received 32 votes in the first round of voting, followed by Éamon Ó Cuív on 15 votes, Brian Lenihan on 14, and Mary Hanafin on 10.

Mr Martin, along with the other three candidates in the race - Brian Lenihan, Mary Hanafin and Éamon Ó Cuív –addressed a meeting of the parliamentary party last night speaking for 20 minutes on how they will take the party forward.

At the meeting, party members accepted they would most likely be going into opposition for at least one Dáil term after the upcoming election.

Before going to the secret ballot, some 26 TDs declared their backing for Mr Martin, while 33 were yet to declare.

According to betting company Paddy Power on Monday, Mr Martin was a huge 1/7 favourite in the race, with Brian Lenihan a distant second and Mary Hanafin the long odds shot at 20/1.

Today, Mr Martin's odds soared to 1/16, with Eamon O'Cuiv in second at 8/1 and Ms Hanafin languishing last at 28/1.

Among the Fianna Fail members who publicly backed Mr Martin included Cork TDs Billy Kelleher, Ned O'Keeffe, Noel O'Flynn, Michael McGrath and Michael Ahern.

Kerry TD John O’Donoghue, Clare TD Timmy Dooley, Limerick TDs Peter Power and Willie O’Dea and Dublin TDs Sean Haughey, Chris Andrews and Michael Mulcahy also declared for the former foreign affairs minister.

They were joined by Kildare TDs Sean Power and Michael Fitzpatrick.

(DW)