End of the crisis in Ireland. More than four months after the legislative elections, two Irish centrist parties and the Greens voted on Friday in favor of a tripartite government coalition, thus agreeing to form a government without the nationalists of Sinn Fein, yet who came first.
The historic breakthrough in February of the former political showcase of the IRA, a paramilitary group opposed to the British presence in Northern Ireland, has upset the political landscape of the country where the two centrist parties have taken turns in power for a century and which is on the front line of Brexit.
After months of negotiations in the midst of a pandemic of new coronavirus, members of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party gave the green light on Friday to a coalition agreement, in internal votes with an uncertain outcome for the small party Greens, the only one to require a two-thirds majority to accept the alliance.
Varadkar is leaving… for now
"We have to go there and help with our government coalition partners to get our country out of a really serious economic crisis," Greens leader Eamon Ryan said on Friday evening, ratifying the deal by announcing that members of his party had voted 76% for.
Earlier in the day, Fine Gael, party of outgoing Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had adopted the agreement at 80%, soon joined by Fianna Fail (74%). "The Fine Gael will begin a third term in government and this new coalition is united, strong and up to the challenge," said the 41-year-old Prime Minister, who is currently serving in the interim. However, he tweeted Friday night a photo showing that he had "cleared his office", preparing to give way to the new Prime Minister who will be appointed on Saturday during an extraordinary parliamentary session.
Clearing out the office tonight. This portrait has hung proudly over the fireplace for 9 years. Beidh sé ar ais pic.twitter.com/f822EciGKR
- Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) June 26, 2020The coalition government has indeed provided for a rotating executive branch. Micheal Martin, 59, leader of Fianna Fail who won the first parliamentary group with 38 of the 160 seats, is slated to become the first chief executive until December 2022. "We chose this path, it involves many challenges, "he said when the results were announced," But on the other hand, it is also a time of opportunity and a time of hope for our people. " Leo Varadkar, whose Fine Gael had been defeated with 35 seats after a campaign focused on Brexit, is expected to take over the reins of the executive later.
Sinn Fein in opposition
The February elections upset the political landscape in Ireland, where the two centrist parties had been in power for a century. This time, the Fine Gael and the Fianna Fail needed the support of the 12 deputies of the Green Party to reach the 80 seat threshold necessary for a parliamentary majority.
With a program anchored to the left, Sinn Fein, favorable to reunification with Northern Ireland, came out on top with 24.5% of the voters. But without having presented enough candidates, it only became the second political force in Parliament with 37 seats.
Excluded from the government alliance concluded on Friday, it will become the main opposition force in Ireland, which could constitute a springboard to power in the next legislative elections, according to analysts.
"The political establishment has mobilized to keep us out," reacted Friday evening its leader Mary Lou McDonald, adding that "these barriers" would not be enough to "stop" them. "We will be the most effective opposition," promised deputy chief Michelle O'Neill.
The alliance with the center-right is, however, a risky bet for the progressive formation of the Greens, who had already participated in a coalition with the Fianna Fail in 2007 before withdrawing four years later. They had been erased from the political spectrum after the elections that followed in 2011, one of the reasons why they expected a "close result" in this internal vote, according to the Irish Times. Invoking a "sense of responsibility", its leader pledged to "do everything he can" to "restore biodiversity and stop the madness" of climate change ".
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