The Republic of Ireland has begun voting in a general election, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hoping to secure a new term on the back of Brexit but voters likely to judge him more on his domestic record.
Polls opened across the country at 07:00 GMT on Saturday, with a small number of islands off the west coast voting on Friday to allow for rough seas that could disrupt the transport of ballots by boat.
Some 3.3 million people are eligible to vote to elect 159 members of the Dail, the lower chamber of Parliament in Dublin.
Varadkar’s Fine Gael party has been in power since 2016 but polling suggests it is trailing centre-right rivals Fianna Fail and republicans Sinn Fein.
On Monday, Sinn Fein – which had been the political wing of the IRA paramilitary group – was leading with 25 percent, with Fianna Fail at 23 percent and Fine Gael at 20 percent.
Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan reports from Dublin.
Brexit is the name given to the United Kingdom’s exiting the European Union, which happened on 31 January 2020, following a narrow “Leave” referendum result in a June 2016 vote on EU Membership which took place in the country. News items related to Brexit are posted, below, chronologically, with the most recent items at the top, from a variety of outlets.
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George’s Channel.
Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2016, 4.8 million people live in the Republic of Ireland, and 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.
A strong Irish culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music and the Irish language. The island’s culture shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, and golf.
Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a country in north-western Europe occupying 26 of 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the eastern side of the island. Around 40% of the country’s population of 4.9 million people resides in the Greater Dublin Area.
The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.
The state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the Irish government and Northern Ireland Executive have co-operated on a number of policy areas under the North/South Ministerial Council created by the Agreement.
The Republican Party, sometimes also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with its main, historic rival, the Democratic Party.
It was founded on 20th March 1854 and has its contemporary headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States. The present leadership is Ronna McDaniel (chairwoman).
