Irish voters looked set to have emphatically chosen left-winger Catherine Connolly to be the country's new president, as ballots were counted Saturday in an election overshadowed by criticism that it lacked real choice.

Early tallies showed Connolly, an independent, was on course for a landslide victory over the centrist Fine Gael party's Heather Humphreys, but with a record number of spoiled ballots and low turnout.

Connolly, a lawyer and a critic of both the United States and European Union, boosted her profile with younger voters during the campaign by appearing on popular podcasts and going viral with a video showing off her football skills.

The official result was expected late Saturday, with many polling stations reporting turnout below 40 percent and potentially more than one in

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