But while it is not clear who all of the winners are, Enda Kenny, the prime minister, knows his party is in danger of losing its grip on power.
Advertisement
A seismic split in the general election vote has thrust bitter enemies Fine Gael and Fianna Fail into a bout of soul-searching as to whether they can bury their age-old enmity to restore stability to the country.
But almost a third of voters turned to independent candidates and new, smaller parties in a mirror reflection of recent inconclusive elections in Spain and Portugal.
For the first time in Irish electoral history, the combined popular vote Friday for Ireland’s two political heavyweights – the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties – fell below 50 percent as voters infuriated by austerity measures shifted their support to a cacophony of anti-government voices.
“The option that screams out the most is a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition”, says Adrian Kavanagh, a University of Maynooth lecturer.
However, while Irish bond yields remain near record lows, the spread between them and French yields last week hit their widest in eight months due to jitters over the election and concerns over the impact on Irish trade of Britain’s possible exit from the European Union after a planned June referendum.
“There’s a sense of bewilderment, first of all”.
It adds that there is pressure within the party for Mr Kenny to step aside, although it notes that some “party sources downplayed any immediate move (regarding party leadership) before a government is formed”.
“Democracy is always exciting, but it is merciless”, he said.
“It’s a really good result for Fianna Fail but the onus is still on Fine Gael to make the first move”, said a party source.
“In the event that they were to form a grand coalition, you really are going down the road towards likely merger and that is why you are going to find elements completely against it”. Enda Kenny arrives at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar, Ireland, where counting continues in the Irish general election, Saturday Feb. 27, 2016.
Throughout Ireland’s three-week election campaign, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams faced questioning over his own Irish Republican Army past and his support for the outlawed group’s one-time chief of staff, Thomas “Slab” Murphy.
However, as Fine Gael is predicted to lose up to 30 seats, and its coalition partners the Irish Labour party’s seats set to be reduced from 33 to 10 seats, the current coalition will no longer be able to hold a majority of seats in Ireland’s parliament (the Oireachtas).
Sinn Fein’s final seat count is expected to fall short of the party’s hopes, winning just over a handful of extra seats in 158-seat Dail or parliament. Finance Minister Michael Noonan of Fine Gael, speaking from an election center in his native Limerick, said: “We may all be back here again very shortly”.
Senior Fine Gael party official Tom Curran said while it was too soon to speculate on forming new alliances, Kenny would have to look “very seriously” at all options as political instability could hurt the nation’s economic revival.
An editorial cartoon in the Sunday Independent newspaper captured the national mood.
Advertisement
The new Parliament convenes March 10, and the period before and after will be dominated by deal making.
