This contribution was originally published in the Irish Independent on October 27th 2025.

Much has been made of the record number of spoiled votes in this election, but few seem to point out that this wasn’t a series of individual protests like in previous years. This time, “Spoil the Vote” was an organised campaign, complete with a website, hashtag and public figures backing it.

It’s a flawed notion to think the usual 1–2% of spoiled ballots suddenly ballooned to 12.9% on their own. If you treat #spoilthevote as the de facto third (or fourth, if you still count Jim Gavin) candidate, it didn’t do particularly well.

In fact, it would have recorded the lowest ever first-preference share in electoral history for a three-way race, well behind Fine Gael’s Austin Currie in 1990 who received 17%.

That’s not to say there wasn’t genuine frustration at the ballot box for many, we just have to be careful not to read too much into what might turn out to be less a grassroots protest than organised venting.