Vote counting got under way on Saturday in Ireland’s national election after an exit poll suggested the contest is a close-fought race among the country’s three largest political parties.
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Ballot boxes were opened at 9am at count centres across the country, kicking off long hours, or even days, of tallying the results. If the exit poll is borne out, that could be followed by days or weeks of negotiations to form a coalition government.
The exit poll suggested voters’ support is split widely among the three big parties – Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein – as well as several smaller parties and an assortment of independents ranging from the left to the far-right.
The poll said centre-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21 per cent of voters, and another centre-right party, Fianna Fail, at 19.5 per cent. Left-of-centre opposition Sinn Fein was at 21.1 per cent in the poll.
Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
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The figures only give an indication and do not reveal which parties will form the next government. Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation in which each of the country’s 43 constituencies elects several lawmakers and voters rank candidates in order of preference. As a result, it can take some time for full results to be known.
The result will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability, and cost-of-living pressures.