Michael D. Higgins has been elected as the new President of Ireland. He is the country’s former culture minister and also a part-time poet from the junior coalition party of Ireland. He was named as the President of Ireland after he easily defeated an ex-IRA commander and a reality TV star. 70 years old Higgins is a critic of the blockade in Gaza imposed by Israel and has been an active and prominent member of the human rights demonstrations for many decades. He was confident of his victory, even before the completion of the first counting of the votes all his rivals surrendered and accepted their defeat.

The victory of the candidate from the Labor Party will now be a sigh of relief for the current government after Fine Gael, the senior partner, had given the worst ever presidential performance. The opposition party of ex-guerilla fighter Martin McGuinness’s Sin Fein had made some further gains. McGuinness is trying to capitalize on the current discontent and anger among the people over the economic crisis that resulted in an EU/IMF bailout given last year. He is now trying to make his mark in the political mainstream of Ireland, after already doing well in Northern Ireland where they are already sharing power.

Higgins, who is praised for his eloquent oratory, said in his victory speech that the people of Ireland, who he respects a lot and takes the responsibility for, have now given a clear mandate and a very clear set of ideas. He said that during his long election campaign, he saw and felt the pain of the people. And he still feels the pain of people of Ireland.

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