Ireland: Labour surge to become the most popular party in the country

[Oakvale]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0611/breaking20.html

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So, this is unprecedented. Fianna Fáil being on 17 percent is particularly devestating - I expect we're going to see talk about Cowen being pressured to resign soon.

 Naturally, as a Labour voter, I'm pretty happy with the poll results...

[Oakvale]

Different country/voting system, but still:


And then this:

Yeah, but the "different voting system" avoids that to some degree. *touches wood*

[Oakvale]

I expect we're going to see talk about Cowen being pressured to resign soon.

My (possibly wishful) thinking is that this poll means Enda is in much greater danger of being dispatched in the short term than Brian.

I'm going to avoid making any prediction on Enda's future since I was pretty certain he was a goner after George Lee resigned. So, yeah, I haven't got a great track record on that front.

[Oakvale]

Um, could I kindly ask for another recap of the differences between the Irish parties please? 

Fianna Fáil: Centrist to centre-right, populist, conservative. You could make an awkward comparison with some of those conservative Democrats in the Southern US.
Fine Gael: Centre right, more economically liberal than Fianna Fáil, arguably more socially liberal.
Labour: Centre left.
Sinn Féin: Supposedly socialist but really a single-issue party based around a united Ireland.
Socialists: Stunningly, far left.
Oh, wait, let's not forget Libertas! *collapses laughing*.

A general rule of thumb is that Labour do very well in urban areas while Fianna Fáil and, to an extent, Fine Gael do better in rural areas where no-one would vote Labour if you paid them.

[Oakvale]

If there's a chance the election will be this year or next year I might change this to a 'proper' thread.

There's an outside chance, but it's not probable. There's a vote of confidence next week though, so maybe the Greens will suddenly become principled. *snort*

[Oakvale]

Um, could I kindly ask for another recap of the differences between the Irish parties please? 

Fianna Fáil: Centrist to centre-right, populist, conservative. You could make an awkward comparison with some of those conservative Democrats in the Southern US.
Fine Gael: Centre right, more economically liberal than Fianna Fáil, arguably more socially liberal.
Labour: Centre left.
Sinn Féin: Supposedly socialist but really a single-issue party based around a united Ireland.
Socialists: Stunningly, far left.
Oh, wait, let's not forget Libertas! *collapses laughing*.

A general rule of thumb is that Labour do very well in urban areas while Fianna Fáil and, to an extent, Fine Gael do better in rural areas where no-one would vote Labour if you paid them.

You forgot (probably intentionally) the Greens.

Haha, that wasn't intentional, but they'll have maybe two seats after the next election so they'll be largely irrelevant.