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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← Members of the 32nd Dáil

159 of 160 seats in Dáil Éireann[a]
80 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout62.9% Decrease 2.2pp
  First party Second party Third party
  Micheál Martin TD (cropped).jpg Mary Lou McDonald (official portrait) 2020 (cropped).jpg Leo Varadkar TD (cropped).jpg
Leader Micheál Martin Mary Lou McDonald Leo Varadkar
Party Fianna Fáil Sinn Féin Fine Gael
Leader since 26 January 2011 10 February 2018 2 June 2017
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[a] 37 35
Seat change Decrease 7 Increase 15 Decrease 12
Popular vote 484,320 535,595 455,584
Percentage 22.2% 24.5% 20.9%
Swing Decrease 2.1% Increase 10.7% Decrease 4.7%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Eamon Ryan 2020 (cropped).jpg Brendan Howlin (official portrait) 2020 (cropped).jpg Róisín Shortall TD and Catherine Murphy TD cropped.jpg
Leader Eamon Ryan Brendan Howlin Catherine Murphy
Róisín Shortall
Party Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/G' not found. Labour Social Democrats
Leader since 27 May 2010 20 May 2016 15 July 2015
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 Increase 9 Decrease 1 Increase 4
Popular vote 155,700 95,588 63,404
Percentage 7.1% 4.4% 2.9%
Swing Increase 4.4% Decrease 2.2% Decrease 0.1%

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
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Peadar Tóibín (official portrait) 2020 (cropped).jpg
I4C
Leader Collective leadership Peadar Tóibín None
Party Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/P' not found. Aontú Inds. 4 Change
Leader since n/a 28 January 2019 n/a
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 Decrease 1 Steady 0 Steady 0
Popular vote 57,420 41,614 8,421
Percentage 2.6% 1.9% 0.4%
Swing Decrease 1.3% New party Decrease 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.

 

2020 Irish General Election Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Includes the Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, elected to Dáil Éireann in 2002 for Fianna Fáil, who is returned automatically.