1 political career
1.1 2011 presidential campaign
1.1.1 entry
1.1.2 withdrawal
1.1.3 re-entry
political career
norris represents university of dublin constituency in seanad independent. first elected seanad in 1987, , has been re-elected @ each election since.
2011 presidential campaign
entry
in march 2011, norris announced intention run in 2011 irish presidential election. facebook support presidential bid drew comparisons barack obama s campaign american presidency. norris topped multiple opinion polls person irish people see next president (with caveat these polls have been taken before candidates have declared). internal research fine gael placed norris ahead of other potential candidates.
on 14 march 2011, norris launched campaign secure nomination. on 9 may 2011, nominated fingal county council. end of month, had secured support of 6 tds. fine gael ordered councillors block norris s nomination. in late may, controversial comments norris allegedly made in 2002 raised on talk radio show. norris called attempt sabotage campaign. said quotes had been taken out of context.
norris s candidacy endorsed british actor , writer stephen fry, said ireland couldn t have more intelligent passionate , knowledgeable witty or committed president .
in late july, revealed norris had written letter in 1997 israeli court asking clemency former partner ezra nawi, had been convicted of statutory rape of 15-year-old palestinian boy awaiting sentencing. norris s letter, written on parliamentary notepaper, said nawi had been lured prepared trap , had unwisely pleaded guilty charges. story publicised pro-israel blogger john connolly. connolly stated had received tip in trade union movement . number of people resigned norris s campaign team. while norris himself said remained committed campaign, admitted in serious trouble . claimed these allegations, complete norris s subsequent defence of comments on pederasty in ancient greece damage chances of securing nomination. norris refuted this, saying still expected receive nomination, , controversy did not affect poll standings.
withdrawal
as of 22 july, norris had secured support of 15 of 20 members of oireachtas required nomination. on 1 august, independent tds john halligan, finian mcgrath , thomas pringle announced withdrawing support norris on revelations of nawi plea. however, several other tds re-iterated support norris in bid become president. maureen o sullivan, td referred nasty campaign when expressing continued support norris. wicklow td stephen donnelly said believed wrong norris have used oireachtas headed notepaper, while mick wallace, td said believed norris should not have sent plea. both donnelly , wallace reaffirmed support norris. norris expressed desire continue campaign president. however, on 2 august, norris announced @ press conference held @ home withdrawing presidential race.
re-entry
david norris confirmed re-entry presidential race on late-night appearance on late late show ryan tubridy on 16 september 2011.
despite withdrawing presidential race in july 2011, norris maintained considerable and, in cases, increased public support. poll taken 1 week after norris withdrew presidential race, showed large increase in public support presidency if given choice vote him (topping poll considerable margin) 40 per cent of respondents saying vote norris number 1 in preferential voting electoral system , 50 per cent saying give him vote.
in galway city alone, more 1,000 signatures in support of norris president gathered members of public in 12 hours on weekend of 11 september. there similar result in city of cork. days later, norris presented petition of 10,000 signatures, collected nationwide, want norris campaign outside leinster house. result, norris announced return campaign on irish television talk programme late late show on friday 16 september 2011, though did not reveal precise number of signatures belonging tds , senators had secured. sunday independent/millward brown lansdowne opinion poll published on 18 september showed high amount of popular support senator david norris of 34 per cent.
despite attempts, norris didn t receive sufficient support oireachtas members gain nomination, having been nominated 18 members, 2 short of minimum number of 20. however, received nomination 4 county councils (fingal, laois, waterford , dublin city), sufficient gain nomination. assisted rival, labour party candidate michael d. higgins, urged party colleagues on dublin city council allow norris onto ticket in interests of democracy. when norris heard on radio instructed driver stop car phone higgins express appreciation.
according irish times norris had 4 times many followers on twitter of other candidates of 30 september.
in first debate, held on rtÉ radio 1 s news @ one, norris promised electorate have no difficulty in either visiting israel or in meeting pope benedict xvi president of ireland. speaking after disclosure of various fees received rivals mary davis , seán gallagher after appointed state , commercial boards, norris confirmed had no stocks or shares name , not company director. norris launched campaign @ dublin writers museum on 5 october 2011.
he came fifth (of 7 candidates) in election receiving 109,469 (6.2%) first preference votes.
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