DUBLIN/CORK (Reuters) – Left-wing Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein on Sunday demanded to be part of the next Irish government after tallies indicated it secured the most votes in an election that leader Mary Lou McDonald described as a ballot box “revolution”.
The former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, which has reinvented itself as the main left-wing party, secured 24% of first preference votes, almost doubling its vote from the last election four years ago, a tally by Virgin Media TV showed.
That put it narrowly ahead of the party of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and fellow center-right rival Fianna Fail. However Sinn Fein is likely to fall behind at least one of its rivals in terms of seat numbers as it stood far fewer candidates and can aim at best to be a junior partner in a government.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who have between them led every government since the foundation of the state, consistently ruled out a coalition with Sinn Fein ahead of the election, citing its policies and history.
Analysts suggested that resolve may be tested in the coming days in what many described as a seismic shift in Irish politics away from the century-old, center-right duopoly.
“This is certainly an election that is historic… this is changing the shape and the mold of