LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) Long-running angst over subpar housing and health care, reinforced by the global anti-establishment trend, led Irish voters to favor the nationalist Sinn Fein (SF) in the weekend's election and with it shake up the traditional two-party system, Paul Murphy, the newly-elected member of parliament for Dublin South West, told Sputnik.
In the Saturday election, SF clearly came out ahead of its competitors with 24.5 percent of the vote, leaving behind the main opposition Fianna Fail at 22 percent and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael at 21 percent. Fianna Fail yet won the most seats, just one ahead of Sinn Fein that secured 37 seats. Fine Gael won 35 seats, down 15 from the 2016 vote.
"I think they [SF] have been the main recipient of the process that also driven the drive of Corbyn and Sanders - people are fed up with the political establishment, [and] are suffering from a horrendous housing and health crisis. They were looking for a radical alternative and Sinn Fein was the most obvious recipient of that move. The two party duopoly has been broken. That is an historic shift," Murphy said.
With the election results announced, issues have now arisen as to how precisely to form a government comprised of factions potentially adamantly opposed.
Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin has not ruled out cooperating with the now embolden Sinn Fein, although "significant incompatibilities," in his words, are believed to exist, a fact compounded by the fact that no party has an outright majority.
Sinn Fein is believed to have successfully capitalized on long-running discontent with the Irish economy, a sore point that has in part led to an escalation of Ireland's long-running housing crisis and undermined public services. An Ipsos MRBI exit poll conducted partly on behalf Irish media indicated that both homelessness and health care were major issues for the electorate, with 31 percent sharing the notion that the "country needs a radical change in direction".
Brexit surprisingly factored in as a concern for just one percent of the 5,000 respondents, a point that may indicate voters have become disinterested in an issue that has arguably dominated the last several years of Varadkar's tenure.
After securing historic election results, SF agreed to step back from its call for an immediate border poll, instead simply stating that they aim to secure one within the next five years.
Whilst this does not entirely negate the Irish border issue, it may indicate that the nationalist party is more focused on domestic issues than reigniting long-running questions on a united Ireland. SF's manifesto claims they will commit to building 100,000 houses over the next five years.
In any case Ireland remains in a political deadlock between the three contending parties, a fact that makes a second election a possibility. Varadkar has already stated he will not enter a coalition with Sinn Fein, instead floating the possibility of a deal between his party and Fianna Fail.
