Ireland: three parties attempt to form a government without Sinn Fein

The two main traditional Irish center-right parties and the Greens agreed on Tuesday to try to form a government without the nationalist party Sinn Fein, which won the popular vote in the legislative elections in February.

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" The leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens met today and agreed to start formal negotiations to form a government, " said a spokesperson for Fianna Fail. Negotiations are expected to start on Thursday as the interim government struggles with the new coronavirus crisis, which has already claimed 1,319 lives in the country.

Since the February 8 elections, which did not lead to a clear majority, the outgoing Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has been acting. His party, the Finn Gael, suffered a severe defeat, coming in third place with 35 seats out of 160. Its historic rival, Fianna Fail, won the largest number of deputies, with 38 seats.

Read also: Sinn Fein becomes the second parliamentary force in Ireland

The big surprise of this election came from the historic breakthrough of the nationalist party Sinn Fein, favorable to the reunification of Ireland, which won the popular vote with 24.5% of the votes, thus ending a century of alternation politics between the two main centrist parties. Sinn Fein has become the second political force in Parliament, with 37 seats.

But this party, once considered the political showcase of Iraq, a paramilitary group opposed to the British presence in Northern Ireland, failed to find enough allies to form a coalition of 80 deputies, necessary to form a government. . Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Verts have three of them 85 deputies.

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