WHEN polling stations closed in Ireland at 10pm on February 26th, Fine Gael and Labour, the two parties that make up the governing coalition, were hoping that the pollsters would be wrong. History, in the form of the surprise victory last May of the Conservative party in Britain after five years of austerity, could be repeated in Ireland, they thought.
But those hopes were soon dashed by two exit polls published overnight, suggesting that the government parties have done even worse than expected. Fine Gael was expecting more than 30% of the vote and to emerge the largest party in the Dáil, Ireland's lower chamber of parliament, by a large margin. Although the full result may not be known until Tuesday, initial tallies suggest the party may have received as little as 25% of the vote, with second-placed Fianna Fáil, the populist party that dominated Irish politics before the financial crisis, hot on it heals in terms of seats. And Labour looks as though it will do worse than predicted too. Although Joan Burton, the Labour leader (pictured right) still managed to retain her seat, her party is set to lose the vast majority of...Continue reading
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