'Political earthquake' in Ireland as nationalists win historic resultFrustration with political status quo fuels surge for left-wing Sinn Féin. The left-wing nationalist party Sinn Féin surged to a historic result in the Irish general election over the weekend, upending the country’s two-party system as the wave of anti-establishment populism that has shaken up democracies around the world appeared to reach Ireland.
Sinn Féin, long associated with the nationalist terrorist group the Irish Republican Army or IRA, won the largest share of the popular vote in Saturday's election, coming ahead of Ireland’s two major centrist parties that have traditionally divided power between them for a century.
With over 96% of ballots counted on Monday, Sinn Féin had 24.53% of the first preference votes, Fianna Fáil had 22.18% and Fine Gael had 20.86%.
It seemed to be powered by the same dissatisfaction with traditional parties and economic inequality, particularly among young people, that has seen a growth in populist politics worldwide and in the United States.
"There is no longer a two-party system," Sinn Féin's leader Mary Lou McDonald told a jubilant crowd of supporters on Sunday.
Sinn Féin, however, may still be excluded from forming the next government, which must now be a coalition with no party winning enough seats to be a majority in the parliament's 160-seat lower chamber, called the Dáil Éireann.
Sinn Féin, believing before the election it would suffer losses, only fielded half the 80 candidates it would need to form a government itself. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ran more candidates and Fianna Fáil currently looks to have the largest number of seats. That means the two parties could theoretically keep Sinn Féin out of power.
Many observers though, including some members of both parties, have expressed doubts that is viable given the scale of Sinn Féin's gains.
McDonald has said she is in talks with other small left-wing parties about forming a "government of change" that would exclude Fine Gael and Sinn Féin. That will be difficult and many believe her party's best chance of getting into government is a coalition with Fianna Fáil.
Before the election, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had both ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin. Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael’s leader who had been Ireland’s prime minister, said previously he would be open to forming a coalition with Fianna Fáil. Varadkar's party had hoped for a third term.
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