- Title: Eire: Fianna Fail Heading For Narrow Win In Irish Polls
- Date: 7th June 1997
- Summary: Vote counting was under way in Ireland on the morning June 7 after a general election in which the centre-right Fianna Fail party was heading for a narrow and possibly inconclusive win over Prime Minister John Bruton's government, an exit poll has showed. The survey, the first of its kind carried out at an Irish election, showed that Bertie Ahern's party would win 44 percent of votes and that its Progressive Democrats ally would garner four per cent.If the results were confirmed by the official count, it would make Ahern the kingmaker in the 166-seat Irish parliament but might leave his party needing the support of a third party to have a clear majority. Fianna Fail led by Ahern and Mary Harney's Progressive Democrats might have to garner support among small parties including the Green Party. Ireland's proportional representation system means a hung parliament is possible - a result most feared by financial markets which say it could usher in an era of uncertainty as the rival coalitions try to form a government. Polling stations stayed open until late on June 6 evening and election officials said turnout was around 70 per cent compared to 62 percent in the last poll in 1992. The exit polls conducted by a local radio station and predicting a narrow victory for Ahern was backed up by tallymen during vote counting on June 7. The tallymen from each of the major parties monitor the vote counting and historically have an uncanny ability to project the eventual result. Within an hour of counting tallymen at Dublin's RDS centre, the main tally centre for the Irish capital, were predicting a narrow victory for Fianna Fail.
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- Location: EIRE DUBLIN RDS CENTRE
- Reuters ID: LDL00126Q8NPV
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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- Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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