2020 Irish general election

The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday, 8 February 2020. This was the first election since 1918 to be held on a weekend instead of a weekday.

2020 Irish general election

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159 of 160 seats in Dáil Éireann[lower-alpha 1] 80 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	62.9% 2.2pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Micheál Martin Mary Lou McDonald Leo Varadkar Party Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Fine Gael Leader's seat Cork South-Central Dublin Central Dublin West Last election 44 seats, 24.3% 23 seats, 13.8% 50 seats, 25.5% Seats before 45 22 47 Seats won 38[lower-alpha 1] 37 35 Seat change 7 15 12 Popular vote 484,320 535,595 455,584 Percentage 22.2% 24.5% 20.9% Swing 2.1% 10.7% 4.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Eamon Ryan Brendan Howlin Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Party Green Labour Social Democrats Leader's seat Dublin Bay South Wexford Kildare North Dublin North-West Last election 2 seats, 2.7% 7 seats, 6.6% 3 seats, 3.0% Seats before 3 7 2 Seats won 12 6 6 Seat change 9 1 4 Popular vote 155,700 95,588 63,404 Percentage 7.1% 4.4% 2.9% Swing 4.4% 2.2% 0.1%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   S-PBP I4C Leader Collective leadership Peadar Tóibín None Party PBP/Solidarity Aontú Inds. 4 Change Leader's seat n/a Meath West n/a Last election 6 seats, 3.9% New party 4 seats, 1.5% Seats before 6 1 1 Seats won 5 1 1 Seat change 1 0 0 Popular vote 57,420 41,614 8,421 Percentage 2.6% 1.9% 0.4% Swing 1.3% New party 1.1%
Taoiseach before election Leo Varadkar Fine Gael Elected Taoiseach Micheál Martin Fianna Fáil

Results

The election resulted in a hung parliament, with the three largest parties splitting the vote nearly evenly.

Fianna Fáil secured the most seats, with 38, then returning and unopposed Ceann Comhairle giving them a 1-seat advantage. Sinn Féin finished with the most first-preference votes of any party and 37 seats to obtain the party's best showing since the foundation of the modern Republic of Ireland. Fine Gael, the party of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, finished third in both number of seats (35) and first-preference votes.

Since a coalition needs the support of 80 or more TDs in the 160-seat Dáil and no two parties have that many seats between them, any coalition would require the support of smaller parties or independent TDs to govern.

Polling

The chart below shows the results of opinion polls since the previous general election.

References

1. Includes the Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, elected to Dáil Éireann in 2002 for Fianna Fáil, who is returned automatically.