Sinn Fein surges as most popular Irish party

Nationalist party Sinn Fein won the popular vote in Ireland’s general election, ballot counts revealed, with the one-time political wing of the IRA disrupting a duopoly of centre-right parties which have historically controlled the Republic.

After all 39 constituencies across Ireland were tallied, Sinn Fein received 24.5% of the first preference vote, outstripping the opposition Fianna Fail party on 22.2% and incumbent prime minister Leo Varadkar’s governing Fine Gael party on 20.9%.

Ireland operates on a single transferable vote system and Sinn Fein ran a slate of just 42 candidates for the 159 seats contested, meaning its strong performance may not result in it becoming the biggest party in Ireland’s next parliament.

But the left-wing party started celebrating its surge after campaigning on healthcare and housing.

“It’s official (Sinn Fein) won the election – highest popular vote,” tweeted leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Counting was expected to continue yesterday, with analysts saying it could take two to three days before full results are known.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have traditionally taken turns in power in the Republic.

“It seems that we have now a three party system,” said Varadkar at the counting centre for his Dublin West constituency.

“That is going to make forming a government quite difficult.”

Varadkar failed to take the first of four seats as the count unfolded, with a Sinn Fein candidate announced as the first new lawmaker in his region. Varadkar was elected on the fifth round of vote counts, relying on redistributed ballots in a moralebruising episode for the premier.

At 11.15pm, state broadcaster RTE reported that 60 of 159 seats were filled, with 29 going to Sinn Fein.

But due to ballot transfers and Sinn Fein’s smaller slate of candidates, an overall seat forecast should not be extrapolated from the early set of lawmakers elected.

Leaders entered negotiation mode as it became clear the next government will need to contain more than one party.

McDonald arrived at the main count centre in the capital to a huge fanfare from supporters and was returned to her central Dublin seat on Sunday evening.

It seems that we have now a three party system. That is going to make forming a government quite difficult.

Leo Varadkar