Elections in Ireland

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The national elections in the Republic of Ireland are :

  • Elections to the Irish House of Commons, the Dáil Éireann
  • Presidential election
  • European elections
  • Regional elections (so-called local elections )

Elections to the Dáil Éireann

The Dáil is the lower house of the Irish Parliament of Oireachtas . The House of Commons consists of 166 members who are elected for a five-year term. All Irish citizens or citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who are permanently resident in the Republic are eligible to vote . The election will on the principle of transferable Einzelstimmgebung (Engl. Single Transferable Vote ) instead and the individual electoral districts each have allocated more seats to.

By-elections

Elections ( English : by (e) -election ) found in Ireland instead to award new casual vacancies in the Irish House of Commons. A parliamentarian can withdraw from the Dáil through death, resignation or exclusion, so that a by-election is necessary. Therefore, parties within the Dáil can definitely lose or gain seats during a term of office. By-elections can be held individually or collectively .

List of elections from 1923 to date

Click on the relevant date for details on the individual elections

date Taoiseach Ruling party (s) Term of office (days)
June 16, 1922 ( South Irish elections to implement the Anglo-Irish Treaty )
August 27, 1923 WT Cosgrave Cumann na nGaedheal 1382
June 9, 1927 WT Cosgrave Cumann na nGaedheal 98
September 15, 1927 WT Cosgrave Cumann na nGaedheal 1615
February 16, 1932 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 343
January 24, 1933 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 1619
July 1, 1937 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 351
June 17, 1938 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 1832
June 23, 1943 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 342
May 30, 1944 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 1345
February 4, 1948 John A. Costello Coalition of Fine Gael , Labor , Clann na Poblachta and Clann na Talmhan 1211
May 30, 1951 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 1084
May 18, 1954 John A. Costello Coalition of Fine Gael , Labor and Clann na Talmhan 1022
March 5, 1957 Eamon de Valera Fianna Fáil 1674
4th October 1961 Seán Lemass Fianna Fáil 1281
April 7, 1965 Seán Lemass Fianna Fáil 1533
June 18, 1969 Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil 1351
February 28, 1973 Liam Cosgrave Coalition of Fine Gael and Labor 1569
June 16, 1977 Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil 1456
June 11, 1981 Garret FitzGerald Coalition of Fine Gael and Labor 252
February 18, 1982 Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil 279
November 24, 1982 Garret FitzGerald Coalition of Fine Gael and Labor 1546
17th February 1987 Charles Haughey Fianna Fáil 849
June 15, 1989 Charles Haughey Coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats 1259
November 25, 1992 Albert Reynolds 1st Coalition of Fianna Fáil and Labor 1654 1
June 6, 1997 Bertie Ahern Coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats 1806
May 17, 2002 Bertie Ahern Coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats 1833
May 24, 2007 Bertie Ahern Coalition of Fianna Fáil , Green Party and (until November 2008) Progressive Democrats 1343
February 25, 2011 Enda Kenny Coalition of Fine Gael and Labor 1827
February 26, 2016 Enda Kenny / Leo Varadkar (since June 14, 2017) Coalition of Fine Gael and independent parliamentarians, if accepted by Fianna Fáil 1645+
February 8, 2020

Presidential election

Main article: Presidential elections

In the Irish presidential elections, the head of state of the Republic of Ireland , the President of Ireland , is elected.

The President of Ireland is elected every 7 years by the citizens of the Republic; in the event of an early departure, the election must take place within 60 days of this. The voting takes place secretly according to the instant runoff voting system. While both Irish and British citizens who have their permanent residence in Ireland can vote in elections to Dáil Éireann , only Irish citizens who are at least 18 years of age can vote in presidential elections.

Any citizen who is at least 35 years old can stand up for election. However, a candidate must have been nominated by one of the following:

  • of twenty members of the national parliament ( Oireachtas )
  • by four members of the local government
  • himself in case he is an outgoing or past president

If only one candidate stands for election, he is automatically (without actual election) elected. A president can hold office for a maximum of two terms.

More choices

In addition to the elections listed above, elections to the European Parliament ( European elections ) continue to take place in Ireland , in which every citizen of a country of the EU can participate. So-called local elections take place at the local level , in which every citizen of this district can vote, regardless of their citizenship.

Constituencies

Main article: Constituencies (Ireland)

The Irish House of Commons ( Dáil Éireann ) currently consists of 166 parliamentarians, the so-called Teachta Dála (TDs) . These represent the 43 constituencies of Ireland. Depending on the size, each constituency can allocate between 3 and 5 seats. There is currently one parliamentarian for every 25,500 inhabitants.

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ The election for the Seanad Éireann , the House of Lords, does not take place on a national level .
  2. ↑ After the failure of the coalition in 1994, the so-called Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael, Labor Party and Democratic Left came to power on December 15, 1994 without a new election taking place. John Bruton became the new Taoiseach.
  3. ↑ Enda Kenny resigned as party leader on May 29, 2017 and as Taoiseach on June 13, 2017. Leo Varadkar was elected his successor in the party leadership on June 2, 2017 and was appointed as his successor as Taoiseach on June 14, 2017.