Irish voters looked certain yesterday to oust their government in parliamentary elections dominated by the collapse of a once-booming economy and the widely hated international bailout that followed.
The eurozone country’s traditional ruling party, Fianna Fail, is expected to crash to defeat, making Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s government the first to fall victim to the eurozone debt crisis.
“They’re getting a good kicking, and they deserve it,” said Brendan Buckley, a 47-year-old civil servant, at a polling station in north Dublin.
“I give them a lot of blame for what happened, as well as the international recession. Their tactics and policies have been atrocious. They are getting their comeuppance now.”
The main opposition Fine Gael party has capitalised on the anger and was leading the polls with 38-40 per cent, compared with Fianna Fail’s 15 per cent.
Fine Gael’s leader, 59-year-old former teacher Enda Kenny, is set to become Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, with a promise to “get Ireland working” and to renegotiate the terms of its massive debts.
In November, Ireland was forced to go cap in hand to the European Union and International Monetary Fund for an 85-billion-euro bailout after a debt crisis centred on the banks threatened to spiral out of control.
It was the second eurozone nation after Greece to seek help and the deal was widely viewed as a humiliation, just three years after Ireland was the envy of the world for the strength of its “Celtic Tiger” economy.
“It is absolutely appalling what has been happening. Our politics needs a radical change,” said Nino Besagni, 77, as he voted for the Labour party.
Some 3.1 million people were eligible to vote yesterday, and early indications pointed to a high turnout. Polling stations closed at 10 p.m., but the outcome will not become clear until late today or tomorrow.
Opinion polls suggest Fine Gael will not win a majority in the 166-seat Dail, or lower house of Parliament, and may have to form a coalition with Labour, which is on 18 per cent support.
Mr Kenny, who voted in Mayo in western Ireland with his daughter Aoibhinn, a first-time voter, has promised to “hit the ground running” if he takes office.
He has already visited Brussels and Berlin to discuss amending the bailout terms, notably the “punitive” 5.8 per cent interest rate and the cost of restructuring Ireland’s banks.
The EU has indicated it might review the deal, but Dublin is under pressure to cut its ultra-low 12.5 percent corporate tax rate in return – a rate Mr Kenny says is of “fundamental importance” to Ireland’s economy.