IN A COUNTY famous for its traditionally high election turnout, many will be watching tomorrow to see how the events of the past couple of years have affected local political passions.
Schools will be closed across the county on Thursday as Fermanagh gets set to head to the polls for its second ever “supercouncil” election.
From Brexit to the RHI scandal, to the collapse of the Assembly and the locally-grown We Deserve Better campaign, much has happened since 2014. It remains to be seen how this will affect turnout tomorrow, with local voters tending to be more enthusiastic for Westminster and Stormont elections.
In 2014 council elections the turnout was 61.1 percent. While this was significantly lower than the last Fermanagh South Tyrone parliamentary and Assembly elections, at 75.8 percent and 72.61 percent respectively, in Fermanagh the council turnout was higher than average in most electoral areas.
This year there are ten candidates battling for one of five seats in Erne North. Turnout in the area was 60.9 percent last time, when the UUP took two seats, Sinn Fein took one, the DUP took one, and the SDLP took one.
In Erne West eight candidates are going for five seats. In 2014, Sinn Fein took two seats, the UUP took one, the SDLP took one, and there was one successful independent candidate. The turnout was 68.2 percent.
In Enniskillen, 11 candidates are vying for one of six seats. The town returned two UUP, two Sinn Fein, one DUP and one SDLP councillors at the last election. There was a turnout of 54.2 percent.
Erne East has ten candidates hoping to take one of six seats available. With the highest turnout in the county last time, 69.7 percent, Sinn Fein won three seats, the UUP and the DUP took one each, and the SDLP also won one.
Polls will be opened from 7am until 10pm tomorrow, and remeber to bring your ID, polling card, and possibly a brolly, with showers predicted from mid-morning onwards. There is even a risk of thunder or hail, which may itself have an impact on voter turnout.
Counting will begin at the Omagh Leisure Complex on Friday morning. Keep an eye on the Herald’s social media pages this weekend for updates on the local results as they come in.
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