Elections in Ireland Totally Explained

Everything about Irish General Election totally explained

The Republic of Ireland elects on national level a head of state — the president — and a legislature. The president is elected for a seven year term by Irish citizens resident in the Republic (see below). Residents of the Republic who are Irish citizens or British citizens may participate in elections to the national parliament. Residents who are citizens of any EU state may vote in European elections, while any resident, regardless of citizenship, may participate in local elections. Oireachtas Éireann (the national parliament) has two chambers:

Dáil Éireann (the house of representatives or lower house) has 166 members, elected for a term of up to five years by a quota-based single transferable vote system in multi-seat constituencies.
Seanad Éireann (the Senate or upper house) has 60 members, 11 members nominated by the Taoiseach, 6 members elected by graduates of two universities and 43 members elected from five vocational panels, all in short time after the parliamentary elections.

Governments and elections have been dominated by two main parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The electoral system provides for a form of semi-proportional representation, with the consequence that coalition government has become the norm in recent decades. At present there are seven parties in the Oireachtas and a number of non-party representatives.

General elections

Election results from 1923–1937

1923 election

August 27, 1923	W. T. Cosgrave	Cumann na nGaedhael	1382
1927 (Jun) election	June 9, 1927	W. T. Cosgrave	Cumann na nGaedhael	98
1927 (Sep) election	September 15, 1927	W. T. Cosgrave	Cumann na nGeadhael	1615
1932 election	February 16, 1932	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	343
1933 election	January 24, 1933	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	1619

Election results since 1937

1937 election

July 1, 1937	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	351
1938 election	June 17, 1938	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	1832
1943 election	June 23, 1943	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	342
1944 election	May 30, 1944	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	1345
1948 election	February 4, 1948	John A. Costello	Inter-Party (1st)	1211
1951 election	May 30, 1951	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	1084
1954 election	May 18, 1954	John A. Costello	Inter-Party (2nd)	1022
1957 election	March 5, 1957	Éamon de Valera	Fianna Fáil	1674
1961 election	October 4, 1961	Seán Lemass	Fianna Fáil	1281
1965 election	April 7, 1965	Seán Lemass	Fianna Fáil	1533
1969 election	June 18, 1969	Jack Lynch	Fianna Fáil	1351
1973 election	February 28, 1973	Liam Cosgrave	National Coalition	1569
1977 election	June 16, 1977	Jack Lynch	Fianna Fáil	1456
1981 election	June 11, 1981	Garret FitzGerald	FG–Lab	252
1982 (Feb) election	February 18, 1982	Charles Haughey	Fianna Fáil	279
1982 (Nov) election	November 24, 1982	Garret FitzGerald	FG–Lab	1546
1987 election	February 17, 1987	Charles Haughey	Fianna Fáil	849
1989 election	June 15, 1989	Charles Haughey	FF–PD	1259
1992 election	November 25, 1992	Albert Reynolds	FF–Lab	1654
1992 election	December 15, 1994	John Bruton	FG–Lab–DL	1654
1997 election	June 6, 1997	Bertie Ahern	FF–PD	1806
2002 election	May 17, 2002	Bertie Ahern	FF–PD	1833
2007 election	May 24, 2007	Bertie Ahern	FF–GP–PD	–

Presidential elections

The President of Ireland is formally elected by the citizens of Ireland once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days. The President is directly elected by secret ballot under the system of the Alternative Vote. While both Irish and UK citizens resident in the state may vote in elections to Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament), only Irish citizens, who must be at least eighteen years of age, may vote in the election of the President. The presidency is open to all citizens of the state who are at least 35. A candidate must, however be nominated by one of the following:

Twenty members of the Oireachtas (national parliament).

Four local authorities.

Themselves (in the case of an incumbent or former president that has served only one term). Where only one candidate is nominated, he or she's deemed elected without the need for a ballot. For this reason, where there's a consensus among political parties, the President may be 'elected' without the occurrence of an actual ballot. No one may serve as President for more than two terms.

Further Information

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