Labour Selects Higgins As Candidate

Michael D Higgins will be the Labour Party candidate in November's presidential election after he won the most support at a selection convention held in Dublin on Sunday.

The former Arts Minister won 37 votes, compared to 18 for Fergus Finlay and seven for Kathleen O'Meara.

The result means that Mr Higgins is the first declared candidate to succeed Mary McAleese.

"I'm very honored and humbled," he said, "And I intend to have a very vigorous campaign that will bring me all over the country.

Higgins was a TD for Galway West since 1981 before retiring at the last election.

He is a university lecturer at NUI Galway, a poet and an author.

Mr Higgins said he would offer a presidency of integrity and vision, and his campaign would be about "building an inclusive citizenship in a creative society appropriate to a republic".

"I emphasize moving on beyond recrimination and talking about how we get to a new version of ourselves," he said.

Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the Labour Party would give Michael D Higgins a free rein to run his campaign as he saw fit.

"This is not an election the Labour Party intends to micro-manage, or intends to control what the candidate has to say," said Mr Gilmore.

"We are going to respect, from today, Michael D's independence as a candidate in the same way as we will respect Michael D's independence when he's elected president."