Saturday, February 26, 2011

Irish government routed at polls

Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, poised to become Ireland's prime minister if he can broker a deal with second-placed Labour

Ireland's largest ruling party, Fianna Fail, has suffered a huge election defeat just months after accepting a EU/IMF bailout, leaving its traditional rival Fine Gael on course to lead the country, according to an exit poll.

Fine Gael's leader, Enda Kenny, is poised to become Ireland's new prime minister, but without an overall majority, the poll suggests. Kenny is most likely to look to the Labour party, which had its best-ever election results, to help form a new administration.

According to RTE, Fine Gael took 36.1% of the vote, with Labour coming second with 20.5%.

Fianna F�il support is put at just 15.1%, by far its worst general election result and will mean a massive loss of seats across the country. Sinn F�in support is put at 10.1%, again a record in the Irish Republic, while the Greens are on 2.7%, which could see the party save some seats despite predictions they would be wiped out.

Independents and others got 15.5% of the vote ? a high figure thought to be spread quite thinly given the number of candidates. Where those votes transfer could be crucial to the final outcome of counts across 43 constituencies.

The last RTE exit poll in 2007 proved to be 99% accurate when compared to the actual number of votes cast.

The Independents combined have pushed Fianna Fail into fourth place ? the party's worst performance since Eamon De Valera founded the party in the 1920s. In Dublin, Fianna Fail support barely hit 8%.

After 15 hours of polling, it appears that far more people voted in this election than in the previous one in 2007. Indications when polls closed at 10pm on Friday were that turnout was generally up, suggesting the national figure may comfortably break the 67% recorded four years ago. In Enda Kenny's Mayo constituency more than 75% of voters turned out to vote.

The chairman of the D�il, Seamus Kirk, is returned automatically, and is the only person sure of being a member of the 31st D�il.


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/26/irish-election-result-enda-kenny

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