2011 Irish general election

2011 Irish general election

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166 seats in Dáil Éireann[a] 84 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	69.9% 2.9pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Enda Kenny Eamon Gilmore Micheál Martin Party Fine Gael Labour Fianna Fáil Leader since 2 June 2002 6 September 2007 26 January 2011 Leader's seat Mayo Dún Laoghaire Cork South-Central Last election 51 seats, 27.3% 20 seats, 10.1% 78 seats, 41.6% Seats won 76 37 20 Seat change 25 17 57 Popular vote 801,628 431,796 387,358 Percentage 36.1% 19.4% 17.4% Swing 8.8% 9.3% 24.2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PBP Leader Gerry Adams — [c] —[c] Party Sinn Féin Socialist Party People Before Profit Alliance United Left Alliance United Left Alliance Leader since 13 November 1983 — — Leader's seat Louth[b] — — Last election 4 seats, 6.9% 0 seats, 0.6% 0 seats, 0.4% Seats won 14 2 2 Seat change 10 2 2 Popular vote 220,661 26,770 21,551 Percentage 9.9% 1.2% 1.0% Swing 3.0% 0.6% 0.6%   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Séamus Healy[c] John Gormley Party Workers and Unemployed Green Alliance United Left Alliance Leader since 1985 17 July 2007 Leader's seat Tipperary South Dublin South-East (defeated) Last election 0 seats, 0.3% 6 seats, 4.7% Seats won 1 0 Seat change 1 6 Popular vote 8,818 41,039 Percentage 0.4% 1.8% Swing 0.1% 2.9%
Election results and first-preference votes in each constituency. Number of seats gained by each party in each constituency.
Taoiseach before election Brian Cowen Fianna Fáil Taoiseach after election Enda Kenny Fine Gael

The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachtaí Dála across 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas. The Dáil was dissolved and the general election called by President Mary McAleese on 1 February, at the request of Taoiseach Brian Cowen.^[3] The 31st Dáil met on 9 March 2011 to nominate a Taoiseach and approve the new ministers of the 29th government of Ireland, a Fine Gael and Labour Party coalition government with a majority of 58.

Cowen had previously announced on 20 January that the election would be held on 11 March, and that after the 2011 budget had been passed he would seek a dissolution of the 30th Dáil by the President.^[4] However, the Green Party, the junior party in coalition government with Cowen's Fianna Fáil, withdrew from government on 23 January, stating that it would support only a truncated finance bill from the opposition benches, in order to force an earlier election.^[5] On 24 January, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan Jnr reached an agreement with the opposition in Dáil Éireann to complete all stages of passing the finance bill in both houses of the Oireachtas by 29 January—following which the Dáil was to be dissolved immediately.^[6] Constitutionally, following a Dáil dissolution, an election must be held within 30 days.^[d]

Following the collapse of the coalition, the then minority governing party, Fianna Fáil, sought to minimise its losses following historically low poll ratings in the wake of the Irish financial crisis.^[7] Fine Gael sought to gain a dominant position in Irish politics after poor results in the 2000s, and to replace Fianna Fáil for the first time as the largest party in Dáil Éireann.^[8] The Labour Party hoped to make gains from both sides, and was widely expected to become the second-largest party and to enter into coalition government with Fine Gael;^[9] its highest ambition at the start of the campaign, buoyed by record poll ratings in preceding months, was to become the leading partner in government for the first time in the party's 99-year history.^[10] The Green Party, having been in coalition with Fianna Fáil during the Government of the 30th Dáil, faced stiff competition for its votes and was expected to lose at least four of its six seats.^[11] Sinn Féin was expected to make gains, encouraged by a by-election victory in November 2010 and by opinion polls which placed it ahead of Fianna Fáil. Some other left-wing groups, including People Before Profit, Workers and Unemployed Action and the Socialist Party, contested the general election under a joint banner, the United Left Alliance.^[12]

Fianna Fáil was swept from power in the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state in 1922.^[13] The party lost more than half of its first-preference vote from 2007, and garnered only 20 seats. It was the third-largest party in the 31st Dáil; this was the first election since that of September 1927 out of which it did not emerge the largest party in the chamber. The Irish Times, Ireland's newspaper of record, described Fianna Fáil's meltdown as "defeat on a historic scale."^[14] Fine Gael won 76 seats, becoming the largest party in the Dáil for the first time in its 78-year history, while the Labour Party became the second-largest party, with 37 seats; Sinn Féin also increased its number of seats, while the Greens lost all of theirs. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny became Taoiseach, in a coalition with Labour.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

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