The Irish General Election 2024 saw more than 600 candidates vying for seats in the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament).
The new Dáil Éireann will have seats for 174 Teachtaí Dála (members of the Dail, 'TDs'), an increase from the outgoing Dail, which had 160 seats.
In Ireland, the party that wins the most seats in the Dáil gains control of government.
With 174 seats making up the new Dáil Éireann, one party would have needed to win at least 88 seats to form a Government in Ireland on its own.
However, no one party fielded enough candidates to win the majority in the Irish General Election 2024, paving the way for another coalition Government - the outgoing Dáil Éireann, elected in 2020, saw Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and The Green Party come together in a coalition.
At the time of publication on Monday afternoon, 172 of the 174 available seats in the Dáil Éireann have been filled, according to RTÉ News.
Here is the current breakdown of parties and the number of seats they have won:
- Fianna Fáil - 46
- Sinn Féin - 39
- Fine Gael - 38
- Green Party - 1
- Labour - 11
- Social Democrats - 11
- Independent Ireland - 4
- People Before Profit / Solidarity - 3
- Aontu - 2
- Independent - 16
- Other - 1
With a combined 84 seats won, it is becoming increasingly likely that some sort of a Fianna Fáil - Fine Gael coalition will again be coming into play.
However, Sinn Féin announced on Monday that the party's president, TD Mary Lou McDonald, has been in contact with leaders of the Social Democrats and the Labour Party.
At current standing, a coalition among Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, and Labour would yield 61 seats, far off from the 88 seats needed to form a majority.
The party noted that it will be "contacting the other progressive TDs and groupings this week."
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, leader of Fianna Fáil, and Taoiseach Simon Harris, leader of Fine Gael, both vowed while campaigning to not go into coalition with Sinn Féin in the new Dáil.
With some counting still being finalized, discussions are now turning to a timeline for the formation of Ireland's next Government.
TD Jack Chambers, Ireland's Minister for Finance, told RTÉ on Monday: “I don’t expect a government to be formed in mid-December, when the Dáil is due to meet on the 18th of December, probably a Ceann Comhairle (speaker) can be elected, and there’ll have to be time and space taken to make sure we can form a coherent, stable government.
“I don’t think it should take five months like it did the last time – Covid obviously complicated that.
"But I think all political parties need to take the time to see what’s possible and try and form a stable government for the Irish people.”
Meanwhile, RTÉ News reports that Fianna Fail won 21.9% of the first preference votes, followed by Fine Gael with 20.8%, and Sinn Féin with 19%.
Voter turnout in the Irish General Election 2024 sunk to 59.7% from 62.9% in the last General Election, which was held in 2020. This year's election saw the lowest turnout since 1923, the last time the number was below 60%.
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