Ireland Elects Far-Left President in Landslide Victory — Says Her Priority is to ‘Existential Threat’ of Climate Change (VIDEO)

When you think European countries cannot fall any further, they always seem to find a way.

Ireland, one of the richest countries in the world by GDP per capita, has elected a leftist to the country’s highest office.

Catherine Connolly, who stood as an independent left-wing candidate, won by a landslide after securing 63 percent of the first preferences votes.

She pledged to be a “president for all” who would put climate change at the top of her political agenda, a stunning result that shook the political establishment and will make her the republic’s 10th head of state.

“I will be a voice for peace, a voice that builds on our policy of neutrality, a voice that articulates the existential threat posed by climate change,” she said at Dublin Castle on Saturday night after being declared the winner.

Speaking in both English and Irish Gaelic, Connolly said Ireland as a country “needs constructive questioning.”

”Together, we can shape a new republic that values everybody, that values and champions diversity and that takes confidence in our own identity.”

Connolly holds the typical progressive positions on everything from mass immigration and redistribution of wealth all the way through to LGBT rights and law and order.

Out of 1,442,698 valid ballots cast, Connolly secured 914,143 votes.

Her main rival, Heather Humphreys, a former cabinet minister representing the ruling Fine Gael party, received 424,987 votes, or 29 percent, in what was effectively a two-horse contest.

Fianna Fáil’s candidate, Jim Gavin, had withdrawn from the race but remained on the ballot, collecting 103,568 votes, equivalent to seven percent.

Connolly’s victory was tempered by a relatively low turnout of 46 percent and an extraordinary 213,738 spoiled or invalid ballots.

In some Dublin constituencies, as many as one in five votes were spoiled, underlining the deep dissastisfaction with the country’s political establishment and the lack of conservative or populist candidates on offer.

The president of Ireland serves as the country’s head of state, a largely ceremonial role distinct from the political power held by the prime minister, or Taoiseach.

Elected by popular vote for a seven-year term, the president represents Ireland at home and abroad.

Although the office carries limited executive authority, the president holds important constitutional powers, such as referring bills to the Supreme Court, dissolving parliament, and appointing the Taoiseach on parliamentary nomination.