President Michael D Higgins casts his vote in Irish presidential election

Michael D Higgins has cast his vote in the election that will decide who becomes his successor as Irish president.

Mr Higgins and his wife, Sabina, cast their vote at St Mary’s Hospital in Phoenix Park on Friday morning.

They stopped on their way out to embrace local resident Anne Whelan and have a photo taken with her.

The president’s staff applauded as he left the voting station.

The race has boiled down to a head-to-head between Catherine Connolly, an independent who has secured the backing of left-wing opposition parties, and Heather Humphreys, the candidate for Fine Gael who was a minister in the last coalition.

They are vying to replace President Higgins, who has served as President since 2011.

Ms Connolly, the clear favourite in a series of opinion polls conducted throughout the campaign, said she was the representative of a “movement” and a “voice for peace” and “unity”.

The 68-year-old Galway mother of two had previous careers as a psychologist and barrister and has been backed by Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats, Labour and other left-leaning parties.

The Irish speaker has been vocal on the issue of Palestine and protecting Ireland’s military neutrality, and has criticised the US military’s use of Shannon Airport.

Meanwhile, Ms Humphreys pitched herself as a “a centre-ground, pro-European, pro-business, common-sense” candidate, adding that she would bring her experience in Government and as a Credit Union manager to the office.

The 64-year-old, also the mother of two children, is a Presbyterian who was raised on a rural farm near the border of Northern Ireland.

She said she has a unique understanding of different traditions on the island of Ireland.

They will also see a third name on the ballot paper with Fianna Fail candidate Jim Gavin still technically eligible to win the election, despite declaring he was withdrawing from the contest weeks ago.

Mr Gavin dropped out of the race after it emerged he owed a former tenant thousands of euro, which he has since repaid.

Excluding Mr Gavin, it is the first time since 1973 that the Irish public were left to decide between just two candidates.

The counting of ballots will begin on Saturday morning with the winner expected to be announced at Dublin Castle later in the day.

Ireland uses a system of transferable votes in elections but – with only three candidates on the ballot – there can only be a maximum of two counts.

If the gap between Ms Humphreys and Ms Connolly cannot be bridged by Mr Gavin’s votes, the 10th president will be declared after one count.

Earlier this morning, Ms Humphreys cast her vote in today’s poll.

Ms Humphreys arrived at Killeevan Central National School in Newbliss, Co Monaghan with her young granddaughter Charlotte, and greeted other voters.

After collecting her ballot, Ms Humphreys retreated to select her choice before Charlotte deposited her grandmother’s vote into the ballot box to applause from family members.