Irish Elections
 

Anyone else out there following our elections? It's a history making moment on many levels.

Fianna Fail is getting routed.

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...p-2558146.html

They were the largest party in the country since the country was founded. Today, they look to be the smallest of all the established parties as more than 70% of their supporters have jumped ship after they ran the country into the ground.

Up until today there were many 'dynasties'. By that I mean we had TD's (congress/parliament members) that came from long lines of other TD's. They would be elected because their father, grandfather, etc. was a TD. There were dozens of these, and today, pretty much all of them have been wiped off the map. This is a huge change in Irish politics.

Then you had the party hardliners. Unlike many countries people here support their party no matter what the issues are. The reality is in the top three parties there is very little difference, contrary to what they try and sell you. People know this and usually vote for whichever party their family is known to vote for. Again, as of today that historical trend has come to an end.

Quite possibly one of the best things that has happened, Sinn Féin is not just the largest party in N. Ireland, they are now #3 in Ireland. They actually have right now passed Fianna Fail, but votes are still being counted and this could change.

Either way it is a HUGE victory for SF as they have almost quadrupled their numbers in the Dail (congress/parliament). SF had a broad range of support before, but now they have gone mainstream and are no longer just a small group in Ireland but will be more than likely leading the opposition parties in the Dail, another historic achievement.

Lets also not forget about the United Left Alliance - they have now taken at least four seats, making them an official part of government. They are a brilliant group that is true left-wing, in fact, they are followers of Trotsky and now have a large enough elected presence to actually enact some changes in the country, getting us back to our socialist roots.

On a bad note, the new 'big' party is Fine Gael - the centre-right party in Ireland, the party of 'big business'. Their new 'ideas' are nothing new, they want to sell off all state owned assets and get rid of all social welfare. That's their plan, although during the election they barely mentioned any of this and spent most of the time blasting FF, which played well since FF ran the country into the ground.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the voting plays out - you can follow it here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/

At this point the battle lines have been drawn. The irony is there is now a right-wing majority but at the same time the true left has trebled their numbers, meaning it will be an interesting government to say the least.