Fine Gael has selected former EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness as its candidate for Ireland’s presidential election after she emerged as the party’s sole nominee when the internal deadline closed on 15 July. Her candidacy will be formally ratified at a Fine Gael event in September. The decision positions McGuinness, a four-time MEP and former journalist, as the party’s standard-bearer in the contest to succeed President Michael D. Higgins, whose second seven-year term ends on 11 November. The presidential election is expected to be held in late October. Independent TD Catherine Connolly is due to launch her own bid on 16 July and is thought to have enough cross-party support to meet the 20-member Oireachtas nomination threshold. Fianna Fáil and other parties have yet to decide whether to field candidates, leaving the final line-up for the Áras an Uachtaráin race still taking shape.