Geen zetel voor oprichter Ierse poltieke partij Libertas (en)
Irish business man and founder of the fledgling pan-European movement Libertas, Declan Ganley has failed to win a seat in the European Parliament, while the anti-treaty group as a whole failed to get a foothold across the EU.
Mr Ganley on Monday evening (8 June) conceded defeat in the North West constituency in Ireland after a recheck of votes confirmed that he had come fourth in the three-seater region.
The rookie politician has now indicated he will step back from politics and has reiterated that he will not spearhead the second No campaign against the Lisbon Treaty, with a referendum due in autumn.
"I will not be involved in the second Lisbon campaign, I've said that upfront. I've got to get back to work," he said, according to the Irish Times newspaper.
"I sought a democratic mandate and I didn't get one, and that's how democracy works. And as I said, I can take no for an answer."
Mr Ganley, emerging out of nowhere, ran a high-profile campaign against the Lisbon Treaty last year, saying at first the document was bad for business before expanding the argument to other issues such as democracy.
He then used his success - the Irish voted no last June - to attempt to build up a pan-European movement, at one time saying it was fielding 600 candidates in the EU elections and hoped to get 100 seats.
But the movement suffered from a lack of a coherent message other than the anti-treaty platform, and there appeared to be little binding the Libertas politicians - mostly right wing and nationalist - from the different member states together.
Libertas was also marred by persistent allegations of attempts of using money to try and persuade politicians to come on board and, despite campaigning on a transparency ticket, was slow to reveal its own funding.
Only in France, where the nationalist Mouvement pour la France agreed to run under the Libertas banner, did the Irish-grown movement get a seat - in the form of Philippe de Villiers, head of the MPF.
In the UK, where it could reasonably be expected to have gained a seat, it failed due to an already over-crowded market, with the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party occupying similar political ground.
Mr Ganley has said he is not sure what his non-election will mean for the future of the movement, which claims thousands of grassroots supporters across the EU.
"We'll see, I mean that's something that we'll discuss. There are very many thousands and thousands of people involved in Libertas across the European Union. We'll all be discussing that internally and they'll decide what we do next."
Press Articles