DUBLIN (AP) — It seemed likely that Ireland’s two long-dominant center-right parties would form a new government as results came in from a fractured national election, albeit with a reduced vote share and complex coalition negotiations ahead.
As vote counting continued on Sunday, the incumbent governing parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and the left-wing opposition Sinn Fein jostled to see who would win the most seats in the Dail, the 174-seat lower house of the Irish parliament.
Sinn Fein, which aims to reunite the Republic of Ireland with the British territory of Northern Ireland, lacks a clear path to power as the other two parties say they do not want to work with it, partly because of its historic ties to Ireland Republican Army. during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
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Outgoing Fine Gael Prime Minister Simon Harris, Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald all won re-election to their parliamentary seats in the results announced on Saturday.
Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation, where each of the country’s 43 constituencies elects multiple legislators and voters rank the candidates in order of preference. As a result, it may take days before the full results are known.
“The Irish people have now spoken,” Harris said. “We now have to find out exactly what they said, and that will take some time.”
Partial results from Friday’s election showed voters spreading their votes widely among the big three, several smaller parties and an assortment of independent candidates, with any coalition likely to involve smaller parties or independents.
The cost of living – especially Ireland’s acute housing crisis – was a dominant issue in the three-week campaign, alongside immigration, which has become an emotional and challenging issue in a country of 5.4 million long characterized by emigration .
If early results are confirmed, Ireland could break the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disaffected voters after years of pandemic, international instability and cost-of-living pressures.
The outgoing government was led by the two parties that have dominated Irish politics for the past century. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have similar policies but are long-standing rivals with their origins on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. After the 2020 election ended in a near dead heat, they formed a coalition.
Fine Gael candidate Paschal Donohoe, a minister in the outgoing government, said the main theme of the election was “one of the central elections”.
Nevertheless, voter dissatisfaction was palpable in some unexpected results. Among a large group of independent candidates was reputed organized crime boss Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch, who saw a groundswell of support after being released on bail in Spain in November on money laundering charges so he could run for office pose for the elections.
Partial results suggested Hutch, who was acquitted last year of murdering a gangland rival, had a good chance of winning a seat in Dublin.
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Lawless reported from London.
