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Irish presidential election, 1966

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1 June 1966
  
1973 →

558,861
  
548,144

Turnout
  
65.3%

50.5%
  
49.5%

Irish presidential election, 1966

The Irish presidential election of 1966 was the fifth presidential election in Ireland and was held on 1 June 1966. Outgoing president Éamon de Valera, 83 and with a rapidly deteriorating eyesight, reluctantly agreed under pressure from his Fianna Fáil party to seek a second term. Fine Gael decided to run one of its younger TDs, Tom O'Higgins, against him. In an astonishing upset, O'Higgins came within 1% (or 10,000 votes) of defeating de Valera. De Valera left the blame for this near-defeat with his campaign manager Charles Haughey.

References

Irish presidential election, 1966 Wikipedia