In Ireland, the complex counting of suspenseful legislative elections has begun

The counting of votes began on Saturday November 30 in Ireland, the day after the legislative elections. It will probably be necessary to wait several days to have the final results due to the complex voting system. The composition of the Dail, the lower house of the Irish Parliament, where 174 deputies will sit, will only be known after the total count.

Ireland uses a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote. Voters rank the candidates in their district in order of preference, with their favorite marked number one. They can vote for as many candidates as they want. Candidates must reach a certain number of votes to be elected. The counting of ballots is done in several rounds.

Next will come the negotiations to form a government which could still take time. In 2020, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin became prime minister more than four months after the election. In 2016, it took more than two months for a government to be formed.

Towards an agreement between parties

According to an exit poll published Friday evening, the pro-reunification party of the island of Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald's Sinn Fein, would come first (21.1%) ahead of the center-right party of the first Minister, Simon Harris, Fine Gael (21%), and Fianna Fail (19.5%) of Deputy Prime Minister, Micheal Martin.

“The formation of a government will depend on the capacity of two [des trois grands partis] to cooperate with each other”and both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have “rejected with the greatest firmness any participation in a coalition with Sinn Fein”comments for Agence France-Presse (AFP) Lisa Keenan, political scientist at Trinity College Dublin University. Polls “suggest that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will be in a strong position to re-form a coalition”underlines the daily Irish Timeswho notes that Sinn Fein could “coming first in the popular vote for the second time, but spending another five years in opposition”.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are “at the gates of power”also affirms theIrish Independent Dailyadding however that the Independents, Social Democrats and Labor are in the race to participate in a coalition. After the last elections, in 2020, won by number of votes by Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA paramilitary group which fought the British in Northern Ireland for decades until the 1998 peace agreement, both centrist parties had formed a government coalition with the Greens.

Sinn Fein as an alternative

Prime Minister Simon Harris said Friday he expected “a fascinating few days” due to the long process of counting votes, after a three-week express campaign, dominated by the housing crisis, the cost of living and immigration.

At 38, the man who became the youngest head of the Irish government when he succeeded Leo Varadkar last April, had a difficult campaign, but his pro-European and pro-business party ultimately held up well.

During the campaign, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail argued that the country, which depends on foreign investment and tax revenues from tech and pharmaceutical giants, needed stability in an uncertain economic and political context. .

Mary Lou McDonald's Sinn Fein lost ground last year with its popular base due to its progressive stance on social issues and on immigration, which has become a key electoral issue. He then went back on track by focusing his campaign on housing and presenting himself as the only alternative to Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who have succeeded each other in government since Ireland's independence from the Kingdom. -United in 1921.