IRISH ELECTIONS PRODUCE
POLITICAL SHAKE-UP:
Friday’s Local Government and European
Parliament Elections in Ireland
are producing interesting results as counting began today. In Party terms the
two parties in the Government coalition, Fine
Gael and Labour suffered significant
losses, especially the Labour Party
which, perhaps unfairly, bore the brunt of the public anger against the
austerity policies imposed on Ireland following the 2008 banking melt-down and
subsequent worst economic recession in the history of the State. In Opposition,
Sinn Féin, has dramatically
increased its vote share, will be the largest party on Dublin City Council; will gain European Parliament seats in Dublin (heading the poll in the Capital)
and South (Munster and South
Leinster) and is in contention for a third seat in Midlands-Northwest (Connacht and North Leinster). The Party is also
gaining seats in local cities and counties across the country. In Northern Ireland, which also held
elections Friday, Sinn Féin will win
four of the 11 new local government areas and at least one of the European seats allocated to Northern Ireland and will be the
largest party on Belfast City Council.
The Irish Labour Party is likely to suffer catastrophic losses in local
Government, losing their majority on Dublin
City Council (with the current Lord Mayor losing his seat) and their representation
in the European Parliament.
The voting system in Ireland is Proportional Representation with Single Transferable Vote (PRSTV).
Constituencies have not less than three seats and not more than five based on
population roughly representing 20,000 voters per seat. Voters can vote for
every candidate in preferential order or just one or two candidates if they
wish. Each constituency has an electoral “quota” which is the total electorate
of registered voters for that constituency divided by the number of seats plus
1. The Returning Officers declare this quota at the beginning of the count
after the election before the ballot boxes are opened. The total of valid votes
is counted first. Then, the first preference votes (“Number 1’s”) for each
candidate is counted. If any candidate reaches the quota on the first count, he
or she is declared elected. If an elected candidate exceeds the quota, that candidate’s
papers second preferences are counted and the surplus is transferred to the
other candidates on the list in proportion to their number of second
preferences received.
The candidate or candidates on the bottom of the list not likely to reach the quota are then eliminated successively and their papers’ second preferences allocated to the remaining candidates until all the seats are filled. It sounds complicated but, Irish voters are well used to it and quite clever in distributing their preferences in strategic ways to favour the candidates they want to see elected even between candidates of the same party. Thus, the electors have much greater choice in the composition of the parliament, Dáil Éireann and the local authorities.
The candidate or candidates on the bottom of the list not likely to reach the quota are then eliminated successively and their papers’ second preferences allocated to the remaining candidates until all the seats are filled. It sounds complicated but, Irish voters are well used to it and quite clever in distributing their preferences in strategic ways to favour the candidates they want to see elected even between candidates of the same party. Thus, the electors have much greater choice in the composition of the parliament, Dáil Éireann and the local authorities.
The biggest change in the
political scene is the rejection by large numbers of voters of the established
parties, FG, FF and Labour for a motley collection of
independents from across the political spectrum (which has implications for stability
of Government after the next General Election due in 2016), a trend which is
also apparent across Europe in the elections
for the European Parliament. The
growing distrust of the EU is
accompanied by a dramatic increase in the percentage of citizens for whom the EU elicits a negative impression, which
doubled from 15% to 28%, while the proportion of those with a positive
impression declined sharply, falling from 52% to 31%. Meanwhile, the portion of
the population declaring itself optimistic about future developments in the EU declined from two-thirds to half of
the total, while the portion declaring pessimism climbed to two-thirds of the
total in Portugal, Greece and Cyprus.
See here the results of the exit polls for RTÉ:
Glossary: Some parties use Gaelic names in their titles as follows:
Fine Gael (FG) (=Irish Nation), Fianna Fáil (=Soldiers of Destiny) (FF), Sinn
Féin (=We Ourselves) (SF)
Other organisations with Gaelic
titles: Dáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland), Irish lower House of Parliament.
Seanad Éireann (Senate of Ireland), Upper House; Oireachtas (Legislature- both
Houses). Uachtarán na hÉireann (President of Ireland). Garda Síochána (Guardians
of the Peace) – Irish national police force. Raidio-Teilifís Éireann
(Radio-Television Ireland -RTÉ) Irish national public television.
TD= Teachta Dála
(Dáil Deputy, Member of Parliament)
TD= Teachta Dála
(Dáil Deputy, Member of Parliament)
Ministerial titles: An Taoiseach (Chief
or Prime Minister); An Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister).
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