SAT UPDATE: The
picture emerging in the results from yesterday’s Irish General Election
is becoming clearer as the evening goes on. The outcome represents an
historic defeat for Fianna Fáil, the main bourgeois party
in the state. FF have been in power for 61 of the last 79 years. They
have been the largest single party in Dáil Éireann
since 1932 until… today. Although only around a third of seats have
been announced it is clear that FF are destined to come in third place
not far ahead of SF. Fine Gael will become the biggest party for the
first time although they will still fall short of an overall majority.
Labour however has made the biggest strides forward with around 20% of
first preference votes. This is double what the party achieved in 2007.
The
picture emerging in the results from yesterday’s Irish General Election
is becoming clearer as the evening goes on. The outcome represents an
historic defeat for Fianna Fáil, the main bourgeois party
in the state. FF have been in power for 61 of the last 79 years. They
have been the largest single party in Dáil Éireann
since 1932 until… today. Although only around a third of seats have
been announced it is clear that FF are destined to come in third place
not far ahead of SF. Fine Gael will become the biggest party for the
first time although they will still fall short of an overall majority.
Labour however has made the biggest strides forward with around 20% of
first preference votes. This is double what the party achieved in 2007.
Together with some successes for well known left
candidates the Labour vote represents a significant shift to the left
among the working class. The situation is more pronounced in Dublin
where Labour came out as the biggest party. This represents the
political effect of the economic crisis and the movements of the working
class over the last two years. The impasse of capitalism
internationally is first and foremost a crisis of the bourgeois and
their political representatives. “The Soldiers of Destiny” are in a cul
de sac.
The most likely outcome of the election will be a
FG/Labour coalition. Paddy Power are offering odds of 1/33 on an
alliance between the two parties. But that does not need to be the
outcome. Fightback is wholly opposed to a
coalition since this would be dominated by the bourgeois Fine Gael
Party. Enda Kenny’s programme differs little in reality from that of
Fianna Fáil. An FG/Labour coalition would be the worst form
of popular front government. The bourgeois will get far more out of a
coalition with Labour than workers will get out of having a handful of
Labour ministers. The Labour leaders will come under enormous pressure
as the economic crisis drags on.
We will publish a more in depth analysis once the
full election results are in. At the time of writing the state of the
Parties is:
Fine Gael 27 seats 36.1% +8.8%
Labour Party 17 19.4 +9.3%
Fianna Fáil 5 17.4 -24.1%
Independent 6 12.6 +6.8%
Sinn Féin 5 9.9 +3.0%
Green Party 0 1.8 -2.8%
Socialist Party 2 1.2 +0.6%
