Irish general election, 26th Feb 2016

[jaichind]

So  FG+FF grand alliance would be the only solution despite both claiming that they ruled this out right ?

[jaichind]

*FINE GAEL, FIANNA FAIL MAY FORM IRISH COALITION: IRISH TIMES

[jaichind]

It seems that FF is exceeding exit polls.

[jaichind]

It seems that FF is exceeding exit polls.

Yes, and it also seems that both FF and (to a smaller extent) SF are quite transfer-friendly.

Wow, that is quite a surprise, to me at least.

[jaichind]

Wow.  All tied up 25-25 in terms of seats for FG and FF.   I guess looking at remaining seats FG should have the edge and should win the seat count over FF although with a small margin.

[jaichind]

FG-FF seat difference seems to be 34-32.  My best back-of-envelope guess looking at seats remaining is that FG-FF will end up 52-43 in terms of seats.  Given Ireland is the land of STV, is there any advantage from being the largest party in terms of getting the Taoiseach seat?  Is  FG-FF grand alliance destined to have a FG Taoiseach then ?

[jaichind]

FG-FF seat difference seems to be 42-38.  My best back-of-envelope guess looking at seats remaining is that FG-FF will end up 50-44 in terms of seats.

[jaichind]

I have a questions which I am sorry if had been answered earlier in the thread:  Did FG and LAB have an alliance agreement in the election where they will ask their supporters to mark the other party on their list right after the party they support?  This way on the list FG voters would put LAB candidates right after the FG candidates and vice versa.

[jaichind]

I am great fan of the STV system but I noticed one major problem: it takes very long to count the votes and probably need a lot of people to work in electoral commissions for all that time. When last district will be counted?

This whole process can and should be automated via computer software.  Last I checked Ireland still has a lot of IT resources.