Elections for Dáil Éireann 1987

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Dáil Éireann 19871989 →

(Voter turnout 73.3%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

44.15

27.07

11.85

6.45

3.79

1.85

4.85

FF

FG

PD

ILP

WP

SF

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to November 1982

 % p

 12

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-12

-14

-1.05

-12.15

+11.85

-2.91

+0.54

+1.85

+1.88

FF

FG

PD

ILP

WP

SF

Otherwise.

Allocation of seats in the 31st Dáil (as of January 2016)

      

A total of 166 seats

• Independent: 4
• Otherwise: 4
• ILP : 12
• FG : 51
• PD : 14
• FF : 81

The elections for the Dáil Éireann 1987 took place on February 17, 1987 . The members of the 25th Dáil were determined.

1987

The 166 parliamentarians first met on March 10, and the term of office lasted 849 days.

The fourth election in the 1980s became necessary as the Labor Party withdrew from the coalition with Fine Gael due to budget differences. The time between dissolution and new election was unusually long at 4 weeks this time, Fine Gael hoped that they could convince the voters of their budget.

Fianna Fáil made no specific statements in the run-up to the election, but generally tried to convince voters that Ireland would be better off with Fianna Fáil. Although Charles Haughey's negative attitude towards the Anglo-Irish Agreement was attacked from all sides, economic issues were in the foreground of the election campaign.

This time the Labor Party decided not to make any agreements with other parties (especially Fine Gael) before the election. The Progressive Democrats , founded only two years earlier, were given a good chance of ousting the Labor Party as the third largest force in Ireland. Although the party consisted mainly of renegade Fianna Fáil members, it won mostly seats from Fine Gael.

Despite all the polls, Fianna Fáil missed an absolute majority on election day, but was able to form a minority government, so that Charles J. Haughey was again (but for the last time) Taoiseach . The coming term of office from 1987 to 1989 was the last one-party government in Ireland to date.

Political party	leader	Distribution of seats			By-elections (0)
		number	±	%-Distribution	Lost	Won	To keep	±
Fianna Fáil	Charles J. Haughey	81	+6	48.80%
Fine Gael	Garret FitzGerald	51	−19	30.72%
Progressive Democrats	Desmond O'Malley	14th	+14	8.43%
Labor Party	Michael O'Leary	12	−4	7.23%
Workers' party	Tomás Mac Giolla	4th	+2	2.41%
Independent		4th	+1	2.41%
		166	± 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The (+/-) comparisons each refer to the previous election and do not take into account any seat shifts caused by by-elections.
2. ↑ If a member of parliament leaves (e.g. through resignation, exclusion or death), his seat must be reassigned in a by-election . This can lead to a loss or gain of seats for individual parties. The number in brackets indicates the number of post-election dates; several seats can be re-elected on one appointment. This list includes seat changes due to changes in the party of individual parliamentarians.