Over 100,000 people in the Shannonside region are allowed to vote in the local and European elections today.
Voting is under way and polling booths will be open until 10 o'clock tonight. These local and European elections take place every five years, and result in people being elected as councillors and MEPs.
There are six council seats up for grabs in all nine local electoral areas in the Shannonside counties - Ballinamore, Carrick-on-Shannon, Manorhamilton, Athlone, Boyle, Roscommon, Ballymahon, Granard and Longford. There are 35 candidates in Co Leitrim, 37 in Co Roscommon and 39 in Co Longford, with 18 seats available in all three counties. For the European elections, there are 27 candidates for five seats in the Midlands-Northwest constituency, which comprises of 15 counties, including Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon. Almost 119,000 people in the Shannonside counties are eligible to vote in the local elections - with over 29,000 in Leitrim, almost 37,000 in Longford, and almost 53,000 in Roscommon. Not all of those people are allowed vote in the European elections, where the electorate for the Shannonside counties is over 108,000.
Voting started at 7 o'clock this morning and will continue until 10 o'clock tonight. There are polling booths throughout the region, with 58 in Longford alone]
