DUBLIN (AFP) – Ireland’s general election concluded late-Monday after three days of vote-counting, with the incumbent centre-right parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael set to retain power following coalition expected to take place in coming weeks.
With all 174 seats in the Lower Chamber of Parliament decided since Friday’s vote, Fianna Fail, on 48 seats, was well ahead of the main opposition, the left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein on 39, with Fine Gael in third on 38.
But support for the Green Party – the third coalition partner of the outgoing government – collapsed.
And far-right candidates failed to win a single seat.
The Green Party secured just three per cent of the vote, down from seven at the last election in 2020 when it joined the coalition. Its leader Roderic O’Gorman was the only one of 12 Green lawmakers to hold on to a seat, saving the party from a total wipe-out.
Analysts said the Greens were often scapegoated while in power by the big two coalition partners.
The party has “no regrets at all” about entering government in 2020, O’Gorman insisted to reporters on Sunday.
But he admitted he was “very nervous” about the future of some of the “distinctly Green” policies introduced during their time in government. While relatively successful in pushing through climate-friendly policies, the party became widely associated with higher fuel taxes.
As cost-of-living became a key voter concern, its policies became seen as an electoral liability.
“As a small party, the Greens were always in a precarious position,” said a political scientist at Dublin City University Eoin O’Malley.
“They were responsible for many of the more unpopular government policies, while for environmentalists it was blamed for the inevitable compromises that come with government,” he said.
