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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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How the Yes and No sides won and lost the abortion referendum
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Race
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia May 26, 2018 03:25pm |
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| Category | Perspective |
| Author | Harry McGee |
| News Date | Saturday, May 26, 2018 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In the last few days of the referendum campaign on the Eight Amendment dozens of small posters appeared around Dublin.
The image was of Savita Halappanavar, instantly recognisable from her thick dark hair, wide smile, smiling eyes, and the Bindi dot on the forehead. The message contained one word: Yes. They were striking in their simplicity and directness.
The Savita case (read Kitty Holland’s report from 2012 here) was never too far away from people’s minds during the eight weeks that this extraordinary referendum campaign seeped into Irish public consciousness on doorsteps, in the streets, in the media, or on the airwaves… right up to polling day.
It was an unusual referendum. All the comparisons and precedents only went so far. The 1983 referendum on abortion was divisive and nasty. This was, in the main, respectful.
During it, there was speculation that it could be a re-run of the 1995 divorce referendum, where a tight result, helped by bad weather in the west of the country, emerged on the day as did a sharp Dublin/rural split.
Neither materialised. This time, the rest of the country followed Dublin’s lead. The Yes side’s campaign shared themes with the same-sex marriage referendum in terms of strategy and approach. |
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