2016 Irish general election

2016 Irish general election

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158 seats in Dáil Éireann[a] 79 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	65.1% 4.8pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Enda Kenny Micheál Martin Gerry Adams Party Fine Gael Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Leader since 2 June 2002 26 January 2011 13 November 1983[b] Leader's seat Mayo Cork South-Central Louth Last election 76 seats, 36.1% 20 seats, 17.4% 14 seats, 9.9% Seats won 50 44 23 Seat change 26 24 9 Popular vote 544,140 519,356 295,319 Percentage 25.5% 24.3% 13.8% Swing 10.6% 6.9% 3.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   AAA–PBP I4C Leader Joan Burton — — Party Labour AAA–PBP Inds. 4 Change Leader since 4 July 2014 — — Leader's seat Dublin West — — Last election 37 seats, 19.4% 4 seats, 2.2%[n 1] Did not exist Seats won 7 6 4 Seat change 30 2 4 Popular vote 140,898 84,168 31,365 Percentage 6.6% 3.9% 1.5% Swing 12.8% 1.7%[n 1] New   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Stephen Donnelly Eamon Ryan Party Social Democrats Green Leader since 15 July 2015 27 May 2011 Leader's seat Wicklow Kildare North Dublin North-West Dublin Bay South Last election Did not exist 0 seats, 1.8% Seats won 3 2 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 64,094 57,999 Percentage 3.0% 2.7% Swing New 0.9%
Election results and first-preference votes in each constituency. Number of seats gained by each party in each constituency.
Taoiseach before election Enda Kenny Fine Gael Taoiseach after election Enda Kenny Fine Gael

The 2016 Irish general election to the 32nd Dáil was held on Friday 26 February, following the dissolution of the 31st Dáil by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny.^[3] The general election took place in 40 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland to elect to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas.^[4] There was a reduction of eight seats under the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013. Fine Gael were returned to government as a minority administration.

Fine Gael, led by Kenny, lost 26 seats, but remained the largest party in the Dáil with 50 seats. The main opposition party Fianna Fáil, which in 2011 had suffered its worst-ever election result of 20 seats, increased to 44 seats. Sinn Féin became the third-largest party with 23 seats. The Labour Party, which had been the junior party in coalition government with Fine Gael and which had returned its best-ever showing of 37 seats in 2011, fell to just 7 seats, its lowest-ever share of Dáil seats. Smaller parties and independent politicians made up the remaining 34 seats.^[5][6]

The 32nd Dáil met on 10 March and elected a new Ceann Comhairle, the first to be elected by secret ballot, which was won by Seán Ó Fearghaíl of Fianna Fáil. The Dáil proceeded to the nomination of Taoiseach, but no candidate received a majority. Kenny formally resigned as Taoiseach that same day, but remained as caretaker until a new government was formed.^[7] Kenny sought an agreement with Fianna Fáil to form a government,^[8] and negotiations continued through most of April. An agreement was finally reached in which Fianna Fáil would tolerate a Fine Gael–led minority government on 29 April, 63 days after the election, and the Dáil formally re-elected Kenny as Taoiseach on 6 May. Kenny was the first Taoiseach from Fine Gael to win re-election.^[9]

Following the introduction of gender quotas, a record 35 seats were filled by women, bringing the proportion of women in the Dáil to 22 percent, up from 15 percent at the previous general election.

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