Ireland's Current Ruling Parties Maintain Control in General Election
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London, Dec 3 (NationPress) Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the parties forming Ireland's current ruling coalition, have successfully maintained their grip on power after the final votes were tallied in the general election. The two parties collectively secured 86 seats in the 174-seat Dail, which is Ireland's lower parliamentary house, falling just two seats shy of a majority as of Monday night, according to reports from Xinhua news agency.
Fianna Fail claimed 48 seats, which is 10 more than Fine Gael. The primary opposition party, Sinn Fein, garnered 39 seats.
The Green Party, the minor partner in the previous coalition government alongside Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, faced a significant loss, seeing its representation drop from 12 seats to just one.
The election, conducted on Friday, witnessed an unprecedented low voter participation rate of 59.7 percent, the lowest in over a century. Counting of the votes commenced on Saturday and concluded with results indicating that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will require at least two more seats to establish a majority government.
Both parties have repeatedly dismissed the idea of forming a coalition with Sinn Fein. Instead, they are anticipated to initiate the search for a coalition partner in the upcoming days.
