Conor McGregor has suspended his bid to become President.
The former MMA fighter had claimed that he had the support and backing of various county councils, but those claims were later proven to be false.
McGregor’s campaign was run exclusively on Twitter, and despite receiving the backing of Elon Musk, it soon became apparent to McGregor that going the council route was going to lock him out.
McGregor claimed the “straitjacket” of the Constitution prevented from from appearing on the ballot, lamenting the fact that the various government and opposition parties, who control Ireland’s local councils, are all backing their own candidates and would not give McGregor a hearing.
McGregor was due to speak before Dublin City Council this evening to pitch councillors on his candidacy.
He was not present at Fingal County Council on Friday when independent candidates were given the chance to pitch councillors on their candidacy, with Fingal County Council opting not to back any candidate.
In the case of Fingal County Council, the administration is run by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour; the two government parties are running their own candidates in the form of Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin, while Labour are backing Catherine Connolly, along with the Social Democrats and People Before Profit.
With Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael the largest parties at a local level in Ireland, and independent candidates aligned with McGregor’s ideology having a poor performance in last June’s local elections, the chances were slim for McGregor to receive the backing of councils or indeed the Oireachtas.
In a statement on Twitter, McGregor claimed, “this democratic deficit against the will of the Irish people has now been successfully magnified by my expression of interest” and asserted that there was a “media witch hunt” against him.
He stated, “I want to assure the people of Ireland that this will not be my last election. You will see me canvassing again in the future, fighting for your rights and representing the best interests of our nation.”