Update from Northern Ireland:

You may recall that in the May 2022 elections, Sinn Fein became the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Per the terms of the power sharing arrangement that came out of the peace deal, this would normally have resulted in the SF leader Michelle O’Neill becoming First Minister and a representative of the second largest party, DUP, becoming Deputy First Minister.

DUP had been refusing to nominate a Deputy FM for some 20 months but on 30 January 2024 they agreed to end the boycott, and on 3 February, O’Neill was sworn in as First Minister, the first Catholic or Nationalist to hold this role. The DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly became Deputy FM.

Right oh.

There’s an election in Ireland in a week or so. Ireland operates by a system of 43 multimember constituencies, each with 3 to 5 members, for 176 members altogether. (3 to 5 is on the low side in my opinion but there you go).
For the last four and a half years there has been a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens. FG and FF could both be considered centre-right parties these days.

Sinn Fein actually received the most votes but FG and FF both stated early that they would not form a coalition with SF. The Greens may seem an odd fit for those parties but they agreed to very stringent conditions stipulated by the Greens, including a 7% annual reduction in GHG emissions.

Under the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail took turns supplying the Taoiseach (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
The current Taoiseach has called a slightly early election. If the current polling is anything to go by, the governing coalition will again need at least 3 parties.

dv said:

There’s an election in Ireland in a week or so. Ireland operates by a system of 43 multimember constituencies, each with 3 to 5 members, for 176 members altogether. (3 to 5 is on the low side in my opinion but there you go).
For the last four and a half years there has been a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens. FG and FF could both be considered centre-right parties these days.

Sinn Fein actually received the most votes but FG and FF both stated early that they would not form a coalition with SF. The Greens may seem an odd fit for those parties but they agreed to very stringent conditions stipulated by the Greens, including a 7% annual reduction in GHG emissions.

Under the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail took turns supplying the Taoiseach (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
The current Taoiseach has called a slightly early election. If the current polling is anything to go by, the governing coalition will again need at least 3 parties.

Although the election results are in, negotiations to form government are still ongoing.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael together don’t quite make it to 50% of parliament but they are only two short, so they have a lot of options. Likely they will get support from the Greens, Labour or the Social Democrats.

dv said:

dv said:

There’s an election in Ireland in a week or so. Ireland operates by a system of 43 multimember constituencies, each with 3 to 5 members, for 176 members altogether. (3 to 5 is on the low side in my opinion but there you go).
For the last four and a half years there has been a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens. FG and FF could both be considered centre-right parties these days.

Sinn Fein actually received the most votes but FG and FF both stated early that they would not form a coalition with SF. The Greens may seem an odd fit for those parties but they agreed to very stringent conditions stipulated by the Greens, including a 7% annual reduction in GHG emissions.

Under the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail took turns supplying the Taoiseach (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
The current Taoiseach has called a slightly early election. If the current polling is anything to go by, the governing coalition will again need at least 3 parties.

Although the election results are in, negotiations to form government are still ongoing.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael together don’t quite make it to 50% of parliament but they are only two short, so they have a lot of options. Likely they will get support from the Greens, Labour or the Social Democrats.

Bump.

Michael V said:

dv said:

dv said:

There’s an election in Ireland in a week or so. Ireland operates by a system of 43 multimember constituencies, each with 3 to 5 members, for 176 members altogether. (3 to 5 is on the low side in my opinion but there you go).
For the last four and a half years there has been a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens. FG and FF could both be considered centre-right parties these days.

Sinn Fein actually received the most votes but FG and FF both stated early that they would not form a coalition with SF. The Greens may seem an odd fit for those parties but they agreed to very stringent conditions stipulated by the Greens, including a 7% annual reduction in GHG emissions.

Under the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail took turns supplying the Taoiseach (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
The current Taoiseach has called a slightly early election. If the current polling is anything to go by, the governing coalition will again need at least 3 parties.

Although the election results are in, negotiations to form government are still ongoing.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael together don’t quite make it to 50% of parliament but they are only two short, so they have a lot of options. Likely they will get support from the Greens, Labour or the Social Democrats.

Bump.

Ta, I didn’t know we had and Irish one.

Michael V said:

dv said:

dv said:

There’s an election in Ireland in a week or so. Ireland operates by a system of 43 multimember constituencies, each with 3 to 5 members, for 176 members altogether. (3 to 5 is on the low side in my opinion but there you go).
For the last four and a half years there has been a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens. FG and FF could both be considered centre-right parties these days.

Sinn Fein actually received the most votes but FG and FF both stated early that they would not form a coalition with SF. The Greens may seem an odd fit for those parties but they agreed to very stringent conditions stipulated by the Greens, including a 7% annual reduction in GHG emissions.

Under the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail took turns supplying the Taoiseach (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
The current Taoiseach has called a slightly early election. If the current polling is anything to go by, the governing coalition will again need at least 3 parties.

Although the election results are in, negotiations to form government are still ongoing.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael together don’t quite make it to 50% of parliament but they are only two short, so they have a lot of options. Likely they will get support from the Greens, Labour or the Social Democrats.

Bump.

Negotiations are still ongoing but it seems certain FF and FG will have a coalition government supported by Independents. They’ve published a draft plan of government.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7evze9d4jo

Catherine Connolly has been elected President of Ireland. She is a socialist independent who advocates for a united Ireland.

Ireland’s population has yet to recover from the famine.