Irish General Election: Saturday Afternoon Roundup

Well, we've only had one seat filled, which has gone to Fine Gael's Sean Barrett.  But all indications from the tallies that we've been getting via twitter and live blogs, seem to suggest that there are some significant changes on the way in Irish Politics.

Most of the first counts are expected between about  4pm and 7pm, with either eliminated candidates, or those who pass the 'quota', that is to say the minimum number of votes required to win a seat in the constituency, which is different depending on constituency size and turnout, their 'supplementary votes', votes of the other preferences below first preference, will then be counted to help determine who else is elected from that constituency. 

It is a complex and slightly esoteric system of electing a parliament, but it's that kind of quirkiness that gives it its appeal, in my eyes.  The Single Transferable Vote system allows for a less predictable election result, especially in situations like this where you have multiple parties, and multiple candidates sometimes from the same party, battling over a limited number of seats.

The Single Transferable Vote would be quite workable here in the UK too, as it could be made to work in single seat constituencies.  The quota just becomes a straight 50% +1 vote of the total number of votes cast, and candidates would be eliminated from the bottom upwards, until we got a candidate over that threshold.

So, the declarations will shortly actually begin, and we'll get official word on who has actually been elected.  More on this later.

Ireland Votes 2007: Cork North West

Well,it took them 5 counts to determine their 3 seats. Together with Clare going to a 4th count without electing a single TD, it does seem that the Single Transferable Vote system does takes a long time to sort out what under First Past The Post, would be a relatively simple task.

Ireland Votes 2007: Quirks of Single Tranferable Vote

In the Single Transferable Vote system there is a certain quota of votes that you need to be elected. Now in the Clare constituency, they are into their 4th count, for the 4 seats that are up for grabs. But so far, nobody has made it over the quota for that seat of 11,278. One candidate is within 5 votes of being elected, but hasn't made it yet.

Ireland Votes 2007: Fast Start for Fianna Fail

So far, out of the 44 seats declared, 31 have gone to Fianna Fail. Now, because this is STV (single transferable vote), everything can still change, because every constituency has 3, 4, 5 or more seats available, not just one as it is in the UK. This means that Fine Gael can still beat Fianna Fail if enough transferable votes in either 2nd or 3rd preference was cast.

So, whilst the indications are currently good for Bertie Ahern, they may not stay that way. However, the turnout is reported to be up on the 63% turnout in 2007.

Ireland Votes 2007: The Voting System

The voting system in Ireland is not the same one used in UK General Elections, which is First Past The Post. Ireland uses the Single Transferable Vote system, which is a little complicated for me to explain here, but there is a good guide at RTE's Election 2007 site, which explain it far better than I can.

However, to give you a real life example, in Dublin North, Fianna Fail candidate Michael Kennedy has been elected. Now, there are 4 seats available in Dublin North, and since so far only 1 candidate has been elected, the second preference votes for Michael Kennedy will now be counted and added to the totals for the other candidates, and this will go on until all 4 Dublin North seats are filled.