Ireland will go to the polls on Saturday, the 8th of February 2020, marking the first general election for the country since February 2016 and the first time that an Irish general election will hold on a Saturday.
The election was called following the dissolution of the lower house of the legislature by the president, at the request of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on the 14th of January 2020.
How do Irish elections work?
The 160 members of the Dáil Éireann will be elected through a Single Transferable Vote system where voters can specify their second and third choices, to allow votes to be transferred to remaining candidates until all the local spots are filled.
Voters complete a paper ballot, numbering candidates for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. preference. Ballots are sent to the constituency count centre after polls close and are counted the following morning over several rounds. All Irish and British citizens who live in Ireland aged 18 years or over are entitled to vote.
The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy, meaning the Irish public vote on who will represent them in parliament and the party (or coalition of parties) with the greatest representation forms the government with its leader becoming prime minister
Meet the Top Contenders
Leo Varadkar- Fine Gael
Leo is Ireland’s incumbent and youngest-ever prime minister. He was only 38 years old when he won the Fine Gael party leadership race to replace his predecessor, Enda Kenny, in 2017.
As the country’s first openly gay prime minister and the first from an ethnic minority, he has served as a minister in different capacities, including sports, health, tourism and defence.
Led by Mr Varadker, Fine Gael has played a key role in setting Ireland’s, and the EU’s, position on Brexit and the Irish border. The party also argues it ushered in a social revolution in Ireland with the legalization of same-sex marriage and abortion.
Micheál Martin – Fianna Fail
Micheál Martin, 59, is the longstanding leader of the Fianna Fáil, having held the role since 2011. Michael was a teacher for a short time before he started his political career where he has served as a Minister of Health, Minister of Enterprise and then Minister of Foreign Affairs which he resigned from in 2011 as he became Fianna Fail’s leader. Fianna Fail is the largest party in local government, holding 279 seats to Fine Gael’s 255.
Mary Lou McDonald – Sinn Fein
Ms McDonald has had a steady progression in her political career, from taking the last seat in her constituency to taking the first seat, and now being the strongest contender in the race for parliament. In 2004, Ms McDonald became Sinn Féin’s first Member of the. European Parliament in the Republic of Ireland, receiving over 60,000 first preference votes. She was elected into the Dublin Central and re-elected in 2016. McDonald has been in the Sinn Féin party leadership since 2001.
Recent opinion polls suggest nationalist party Sinn Fein has surged ahead of incumbent prime minister Leo Varadkar’s centre-right Fine Gael party and his main challenger Micheál Martin of Fianna Fail, also right-leaning centrists.
