VEGAN Viking Gerban Uunk has been eliminated from the race for Limerick’s directly-elected mayor after the third count.
The Party for Animal Welfare (PAW) candidate received 788 votes after the third count, eliminating him from the race.
Speaking to the Limerick Post after being discounted, Mr Uunk said that the people of Limerick hadn’t heard the last of him.
“I’m a member of a political party, the Party for Animal Welfare. We’ve grown our party here as a result of this … So I want to branch together and then hopefully next time around have more candidates next time out,” Mr Uunk said.
“And some people said, ‘are you running for general election?’ I don’t know yet. That’s something that will be decided,” he shared.
The PAW party couldn’t compete with political machines like Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Green Party, Mr Uunk said, adding that he had spent far less on his campaign than other candidates.
“I only got my flyers two weeks before the election, so I hadn’t any time and I can’t compete with the other candidates with like 30 or 40 times as many funds as me, some with corporate funding as well,” he claimed.
“I did everything via crowdfunding, via donations. I only spent around €500 on the campaign, when the other candidates might have spent 40 times as much as that,” the eliminated PAW candidate said.
Uunk also said that he opposed the count centre being located in Limerick Racecourse, declaring the sport of horseracing “should be abolished”.
“We’re standing here at the spot which I’m not really happy about, which is horseracing. In my view, horseracing should be abolished, the same as greyhound racing. So I’m a bit here against my conscience,” Uunk hit out.
The PAW candidate said that he believes such facilities should be converted into housing, “or maybe turn it into an athletics track”.
