(Xinhua) -- Irish poet Michael D. Higgins has won the country's presidential poll, according to a final count Saturday afternoon.Higgins secured 1,007,104 ballots while his main rival and independent candidate Sean Gallagher got 628,114. The total poll was 1,771,762.
In Dublin Castle, returning officer Riona Ni Fhlanghaile officially announced that Higgins has been elected Ireland's ninth president.
Ireland has a complex voting system for the presidential elections. In this election, the total poll was 1,771,762. The quota, or the number of votes needed to be elected, is 885,882.
Higgins, a veteran politician of the Labor Party and a minister of culture and the arts in the 1990s, will take over from incumbent President Mary McAleese, who has served the maximum two terms for a total of 14 years.
About 56 percent of 3.1 million eligible voters in the country went to the polls Thursday to elect the country's president from a record number of seven candidates. The race is regarded as one of the most competitive in Ireland's history.