First preference votes are the Holy Grail for politicians looking to secure election to Dáil Éireann. Get enough of them and it puts them in the hunt for a seat.
Get a lot of them and your ticket to Leinster House can be confirmed early on count day.
So, which candidates attracted the most first preferences, or 'Number 1s' as they are more affectionately known, in Friday's General Election?
Topping the list in this election was Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty in the Donegal constituency.
At 18,898 votes, the Gaoth Dobhair-based candidate made it a hatrick of sorts by heading the poll again, as he did in the old Donegal South West constituency in 2011 and in 2020 the new Donegal constituency.
At the other end of the country, it was Michael Healy-Rea in the Kerry constituency who took the second most first preferences, attracting 18,596 number 1s. That was well ahead of the quota of 13,083.
Rounding out the top three is Taoiseach Simon Harris who took 16,869 first preferences in the Wicklow constituency. This amounted to 1.48 quotas.
The rest of the top 20 looks like this:
4th- Micheál Martin (FF) - 14,526 votes in Cork South-Central
5th - Michael Lowry (Ind) - 12,538 votes in Tipperary North
6th - Michael Fitzmaurice (II) 12,002 votes in Roscommon-Galway
7th - David Cullinane (SF) - 11,936 votes in Waterford
8th - Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG) - 11,685 votes in Dún Laoghaire
9th - Pa Daly (SF) - 11,647 votes in Kerry
10th - Patrick O'Donovan (FG) - 11,563 votes in Limerick County
11th - Verona Murphy (Ind) - 11,340 votes in Wexford
12th - Timmy Dooley (FF) - 11,313 votes in Clare
13th - Michael Collins (II) - 11,002 votes in Cork South-West
14th - Peter Burke (FG) - 10,864 votes in Longford-Westmeath
15th - Richard O'Donoghue (II) - 10,540 votes in Limerick County
16th - John Cummins (FG) - 10,376 votes in Waterford
17th - Norma Foley (FF) - 10,302 votes in Kerry
18th - Albert Dolan (FF) - 10,140 votes in Galway East
19th - Rose Conway-Walsh (SF) - 10,117 votes in Mayo
20th - Neale Richmond (FG) - 10,044 votes in Dublin-Rathdown
Top 6 candidates by first preference percentage
Fine Gael leader Simon Harris leads the way when it comes to the highest percentage of votes secured in this election.
He took 29.56% of the vote in Wicklow to retain his seat.
In second place was Independent Ireland's Michael Fitzmaurice in Roscommon-Galway who took 29.18% of the first preferences there, and in third spot is Independent Michael Lowry in Tipperary North on 27.40%.
Fourth goes to Fine Gael's Patrick O'Donovan in Limerick County on 25.39%, in fifth is Pearse Doherty on 24.66% in Donegal, with Michael Healy-Rae in sixth place on 23.69% in Kerry.
