Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris
Reuters
Voters in the Republic of Ireland are set to head to the polls later this month for a general election.
Prime Minister Simon Harris of Ireland announced that he would dissolve the lower house of the Irish Parliament on Friday (November 8) afternoon and schedule an election for Novevember 29, ending months of speculation about the timing.
The vote had to be held before the current coalition government’s five-year mandate came to an end in March 2025. And with Harris’ center-right party, Fine Gael, enjoying renewed support in the polls after previously struggling, the decision comes as little surprise to those with a close eye on Irish politics.
As the country of 5.2 million people embarks on three short weeks of campaigning, here’s what to know.
Who are the main candidates and parties?
Since the modern Irish state achieved independence from Britain just over 100 years ago, nearly every Irish government has been led by one of two center-right parties — Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
At the last election in February 2020, Fianna Fáil won the most parliamentary seats but failed to secure an absolute majority. To the surprise of many, Sinn Féin, a left-wing nationalist party, saw a surge in support, winning the popular vote and coming in second place in terms of seats, ahead of the governing party Fine Gael, which was then led by Leo Varadkar.
To form a government, Fianna Fáil went into coalition with Fine Gael and the Green Party, with the two main parties agreeing to hold the role of prime minister (or taoiseach) for half a term each.
Varadkar resigned the position suddenly in March, with political analysts speculating that he felt Fine Gael needed fresh leadership as it headed toward an election. Harris became the party’s new leader and the taoiseach.
Sinn Féin, now led by Mary Lou McDonald, had spent decades ostracized from mainstream Irish politics because of its former life as the political branch of the Irish Republican Army.
But after its success in 2020, many analysts wondered whether the party might win an outright majority in the next election. It also won the most seats in Northern Ireland’s assembly in 2022, prompting debate over whether the time had come for an islandwide discussion about unification of the region, part of the United Kingdom, with the Republic of Ireland. But in recent months, Sinn Féin’s public support appears to have diminished.
The latest opinion poll from the Sunday Independent saw Fine Gael leading with 26%, Fianna Fáil (led by Micheál Martin, the current foreign minister) with 20% and Sinn Féin at 18%, down from close to 30% earlier in the year.
What are the main issues people will be voting on?
The high cost of living and government funding for health care will be important factors for many voters. An ongoing housing crisis is also front of mind for many, with soaring rents leaving many people — particularly younger adults — struggling to afford homes, creating a generational divide.
Analysts agree that a failure by successive governments to invest in public housing, which local authorities once built for those who could not afford to rent privately, has deepened the issue.
Immigration has also become another major concern for voters, as arrivals reached their highest level this year since 2007.
And a fault line has been growing in Irish society over the issue, which experts say has been weaponized by the far right to drive discontent.
A far-right riot in Dublin a year ago threw those issues into stark relief, and protests and conversations about immigration have made their way into towns and villages across the country in recent months.
How soon will we know the results?
Ireland uses a version of an electoral system called proportional representation, which means that the results of the election can often take some time to determine. After the 2020 general election, it took days for the final tally to be confirmed.
Under Ireland’s system, voters are asked to give their votes in order of preference for as many of the candidates listed as they like, marking their first choice candidate with a 1, the second choice with a 2, the third choice with a 3 and so on.
The tally then takes place over a number of rounds. To be elected, a candidate must generally reach a quota for the constituency where the ballots are cast.
If a voter’s preferred candidate either reaches that threshold (and therefore does not need any additional support to be elected) or cannot reach it and is eliminated, then their vote will go to their next choices.
This type of system is thought to reduce political instability and more accurately capture the preferences of the public.
Depending on the outcome, if no single party clinches a clear majority of seats, the process of forming a government could take until the new year.