One central issue here concerned an important aspect of democratic elections in the West, which is the free selection of candidates before actual voting takes place.

The event otherwise was striking for the lack of hard-edged exchanges this close to the first actual voting.

Candidates devoted more than a year to raising millions of dollars, knowing that they would not have time once the actual voting started.

But experts said the absentee ballots usually reflect the proportions of actual voting.

The actual voting was as follows: 18,176 voted representing 87.9% of the electorate.

As for the actual voting, he said, "I think it is possible within 12 months."

This "parallel monitoring," as it is known, can test parts of the system that come into play only during actual voting.

No actual voting was necessary in Southern Ireland as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns.

The horizontal lines represent actual voting results on November 4.

It is more intense than the blizzards of advertising that most candidates run on the eve of the actual voting.