Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly has lodged a formal complaint with the Irish Electoral Commission after a fake AI-generated video falsely claimed she had withdrawn from this week’s election.

The video, which appeared on social media last week, was designed to look like a broadcast from Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ. It showed a fabricated version of Connolly appearing to announce her exit from the race and falsely stating that her rival Heather Humphries had won by default.

Connolly denounced the clip as: “a disgraceful attempt to mislead voters and undermine our democracy”, insisting she remains: “absolutely” a candidate for the presidency. “I will not be distracted,” she said. “If you see this video, do not share it - report it. The surest reply to lies is to vote.”

Her campaign team has demanded that the platforms where the video circulated take it down immediately and clearly mark it as fake. The Electoral Commission confirmed it had received her formal complaint and is assessing possible breaches of election law.

Connolly, an independent member of the Irish parliament for Galway West since 2016 and former deputy speaker of the Dáil, is running with support from several left-leaning parties and independents. Voting for Ireland’s next president takes place today.