Dublin - Eurosceptic Libertas leader Declan Ganley conceded late Monday that he would not take a seat in Ireland's North West constituency in the European Parliament elections and said he would "bow out of political life."

Arriving at the count centre Monday evening, Ganley told Irish national broadcaster RTE that he accepted that people had not given him a mandate to represent them in the European Parliament.

Ganley also said he would play no part in the second Lisbon referendum, saying it remained to be seen whether Libertas as an organization would be involved, RTE reported.

Ganley spearheaded the successful no campaign to the European Union's Lisbon treaty, which was defeated in a referendum in Ireland last June.

When it emerged he was set to fail in European Parliament elections after the first count in the three-seat constituency Sunday night, the Libertas leader requested a recheck of ballots in the North West, saying that some of his votes may have been allocated to other candidates.

However, that recheck found that Ganley had been awarded 3,000 extra votes in error.

Ganley was in fourth place and 13,000 votes behind the third candidate in the race.(dpa)