Political poster in favor of the same-sex marriage bill, 2015. Wikicommones/ William Murphy. Some rights reserved. Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s announcement of the decision to hold the 2016 General Election in the last week of February may have caught some political parties off guard.
The Fine Gael leadership clearly sees an opportunity to exploit the lack of organisation among the other parties. Political analysts are predicting that Fine Gael will receive the largest share of the vote and Kenny will return as Taoiseach for another term. The question, however, of the Labour party’s fate as coalition partner remains uncertain and is the most intriguing issue of this election. With only three weeks to canvass, the party has a lot of work ahead to win over disenchanted supporters, who have seen the leadership yield to Fine Gael’s austerity measures.
A Labour return to government as coalition partner will not inspire any resounding change in Irish politics. Long before the Celtic Tiger, general elections in Ireland have had the same recurring theme — two major centre right political parties vying for power despite their shared commitment to neoliberal policies.
