Ireland: extremely tight legislative elections for the Prime Minister

Text by: RFI Follow

Irish legislative elections are expected to be extremely tight for Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, according to a poll out of the polls published on Saturday evening. The parties Fine Gael, Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail would thus be in a pocket handkerchief, making the end result very uncertain.

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According to an Ipsos MRBI study for the Irish media, which includes a 1.3% margin of error, its center-right party, the Fine Gael, would lead with 22.4%, ahead of the republican party Sinn Fein (22 , 3%) and the other large center-right party, the Fianna Fail (22.2%).

The counting of votes must begin on Sunday morning and the result may not be known for several days.

Irish Times political service chief Pat Leahy says such a result is unprecedented. " It is an equality now between three major parties, " he said, in a country where political life is traditionally led alternately or in coalition as in the outgoing government, by the two major center-right parties. " Forming a government will be a very difficult exercise if the parties maintain their pre-election positions, " he added.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have ruled out forming a coalition with Sinn Fein because of its links in the past with the IRA, a paramilitary organization opposed to the British presence in Northern Ireland.

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Young (41), Métis, homosexual, embodying an Ireland that was once very Catholic and modernizing, Leo Varadkar saw his popularity diminish after almost three years in power. He was criticized for campaigning more on Brexit than on the concerns of voters, concerned about issues like housing or health.

" People have told us throughout the campaign that they want change, " said Sinn Fein chief, while voting in Dublin. His proposals to build housing, one of the major themes in the countryside, find a particular resonance with a young and urban electorate.

In reality, however, Sinn Fein's chances of coming to power after the elections seem slim. The left nationalist party presents only 42 candidates for 160 seats of deputies.

Fianna Fail chief Micheal Martin said he was " confident " when he voted with his family in Cork (south). " We have an obligation to the people to work as hard as we can to ensure that there is a working government after this election, " he said.

Once the official results are known, negotiations will begin to form a coalition government, unless a party manages to win 80 seats, a highly unlikely scenario.

After the last election in 2016, it took 70 days for the two major parties to agree to form a government.

( With AFP)

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