Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fail has managed to pull off a coup that has astonished the Irish media. Despite being in power for 10 years, Fianna Fail has managed to gain seats in the Irish general election. Mr Ahern had been at the centre of a series of scandals regarding acceptance of cash gifts from Irish businessmen (otherwise known as Bertigate), and it was widely predicted that Fianna Fail would lose seats, and Mr Ahern his premiership. Instead, it appears that a surge in support came through on polling day.Fianna Fail representatives explained that a large portion of that late surge in vote came from the under-25s.
The biggest shock of the night was the Progressive Democrats leader and Justice Minister, Michael McDowell losing his seat.
Negotiations to form a coalition government are underway , but its looking increasingly likely that it could be a Fianna Fail / Labour coalition, despite Labour's assurances to the contrary.
However, a rainbow coalition involving Fine Gael, Labour , the Greens and the Progressive Democrats , while unlikely, cannot at the present time be ruled out.
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Due to Ireland's complex proportional representation voting system, counting is still going on in many constituencies. However, the latest results , and percentage voting share, are as follows:
Fianna Fail - 74 seats 44.1%
Fine Gael - 48 seats, 27.3%
Labour - 20 seats, 10.1%
Green Party - 5 seats, 4.7%
Sinn Fein - 4 seats, 6.9%
Progressive Democrats - 2 seats, 2.7%
Others - 5 seats, 6.6%
