The complex Irish Proportional Representation voting system means counting will probably only finish today; some more seats have to be sorted. But the result overall is a rejection of austerity and a reality check on government rhetoric about recovery.
How this might work out with a new coalition will depend a lot on how coherent opposition from Sinn Féin and the Alliance against Austerity shapes up. And it is still not clear if the government will be a coalition of Fine Gael (the current party of government) and Fianna Fáil (the authors of the Celtic Tiger and the fall out from that). The Labour Party who were in coalition with Fine Gael got slaughtered.
But in general it shows the beginning of a new progressive/towards left consensus.
Brid Brennan, Transnational Institute (TNI)
29 February, 1 pm
Below links to a spectrum of comments from Irish journalists:
An overall seat count until Monday am
Una Mullally – This is what change looks like, whatever this is
Fintan O’Toole – The winner of Election 2016 is social democracy
Vincent Brown – Coalition of Right may be price of Left’s myopic stunts