The center-right coalition who has governed Ireland for the last five years may renew his mandate after the general elections held this Friday. According to the exit polls published at the close of the polling stations, the Fine Gaelic –the formation of the Prime Minister, Simon Harris– has obtained a 21% of the votes, while the other major party in the coalition, the centrist Fianna Fáilhas achieved a 19,5% of the votes. Everything indicates that the two parties will reach a new government agreement, although they will foreseeably have to seek the support of one or two minority partners to add the necessary majority of 88 representatives in the lower house.
It is much more difficult for the nationalists of the Sinn Feinthe political arm of the IRA during the three decades of violence between republicans and unionists in Northern Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald’s party has achieved a very narrow victory in percentage of the vote, with the 21,1% –within the margin of error of more than one point of the polls–, a result that is far below that predicted by the polls a little over a year ago. The votes obtained are also lower than those in the elections of 2020in which the training achieved a 25% of the votes and was positioned as the second force with 37 representatives in Parliament.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are most likely to reach a government agreement with any of the minority parties. Los Verdesthe third party in the coalition in this legislature, have obtained a 4% of the votes, while the Labor Party and the Social Democratic Party they get a 5% and a 5,8% of the votes, respectively. On this occasion, independent candidates account for 12.7% of the votes.
Social crisis
Nearly 3.4 million voters They were called to the polls this Friday in a growing climate of social tension. The increase of house price In recent years it has forced thousands of young people to look for accommodation outside the most populated cities, especially in Dublin. According to a report from the Irish Parliament, purchase and rental prices have increased by 75% and 90%, respectively, between 2012 and 2022. An increase that has not been offset by the increase in salaries, of 27% in the same period.
The immigration It has also had important weight during the electoral campaign. Episodes of violence against hotels and other temporary accommodation for asylum seekers have put authorities on alert and forced the main parties to toughen your proposalswith the aim of avoiding a flight of votes towards independent candidates with populist speeches.
The official confirmation of the results may take days due to the complex voting system in Ireland, known as the Single Transferable Vote (STV). This system allows you to vote for different candidates in order of preference, something that requires a much longer and more elaborate scrutiny. The official vote count will begin early Saturday morning, but it is unclear when the winner will be officially announced. Once the scrutiny is completed, the parties must begin a negotiation to form a Government that could take months.
