Exit poll in Ireland’s election suggests the three parties won roughly equal shares

A poster by the Electoral Commission is displayed in Dublin, Friday Nov. 29, 2024, as voters go to the polls in the 2024 General Election in Ireland.
| Photo Credit: AP

An exit poll in Ireland’s general election suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government.

A poll released as voting ended at 10 p.m. (2200GMT) said centre-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21% of voters, with its centre-right coalition partner Fianna Fail at 19.5%. Left-of-centre opposition Sinn Fein was at 21.1% in the poll.

Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

The figures only give an indication and don’t reveal which parties will form the next government. Counting of ballots starts Saturday morning and it will take between several hours and several days for full results to be known.

Ireland voted in a parliamentary election that will decide the next government — and will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and a cost-of-living pressures.