A General Election is a vote among Irish people on who will represent them in the Dáil. Although the law calls for General Elections every five years, the sitting government is free to call one whenever it suits. The next election has to be called by March 2025. However, agreeing with Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman, Taoiseach Simon Harris has confirmed that the vote will take place in 2024. Based on the general information on election day, Ireland held its General Election on Friday, 29 November 2024.

A democracy uses voting as its primary language. One of the main tools people need to discuss their desired rule is Voting, which is essential for our democracy.

What is an election generally?

A General Election is a vote among Irish citizens to determine who will represent them in the Dáil.

In a parliamentary democracy, Ireland lets its citizens name delegates straightforwardly. These elected Teachta Dálas (TDs), either by coalition or by majority, as is the case now, build a government. TDs vote to select a Taoiseach and establish a government once elected.

TDs decide what laws are passed, changed, or removed on a national basis. TDs also work for and represent the interests of their constituents at home and deal with local issues that arise.

The law requires General Elections every five years.

The sitting government can call elections whenever it chooses. In the event of the government collapses, an early election process will also take place.

The next election must occur by March 2025. Though Taoiseach Simon Harris has said this was his inclination on several occasions, he agreed with Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman that the vote occurred in 2024.

General Information on Election Day

The general information on election day indicated that the candidates had to send their nominations by Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 12 noon. They also had to drop their nominations by Monday, at twelve noon.

On polling day, a candidate must be an Irish citizen at least 21 years old. In a General Election, most contenders identify with political parties. However, candidates without party affiliation can also participate as independent candidates. For instance, in the last election, voters elected 19 independents to the Dáil.

Every Irish or British citizen covered by the Register of Electors can vote in the General Election. More than 3.5 million people held the right to vote in Dáil elections.

Irish General Election 2024

Since 2020, a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party has governed Ireland.

Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing, the nearby government, and heritage, made an order appointing Friday, 29 November 2024, as polling day and the hours from 7 am to 10 pm as polling hours at the overall election.

Voting in Ireland on November 29

Based on the general information on election day, opinion polls showed little distinction among the leading political parties.

Fine Gael contended that if Donald Trump served a second term as president, a Sinn Féin-led government could pose a financial risk. Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on EU exports and his commitment to bringing jobs back to the United States are particularly concerning for Ireland.

Sinn Féin indicated her willingness to collaborate with leftwing parties to form a coalition if the polling results supported it.

Parliamentary Election Details

General information on election day: A parliamentary election is a way for the public to elect new leaders to represent them in the government. According to the general information on election day, electoral systems vary in this regard in three main ways.

Whether constituencies are set according to geographical or other criteria is an important issue. Many people debate the benefits of functional representation compared to territorial representation, but most election systems rely on the latter. The “university seats” in the British Parliament stood out as a notable exception, as they were eliminated before the 1950 election. Carefully drawing constituency limits in political subdivisions significantly influences election outcomes.

Whether constituencies are single-member or multi-member can significantly impact the allocation of seats in an assembly. Systems that use proportional methods for seat allocation typically require multi-member constituencies, as is the case with the Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) system.

Electoral Formula

This method links votes to the contested office(s); for an assembly, it involves the processes of converting votes into seats. There are three main electoral system families, classified according to how they translate votes into seats (plurality, majority, and proportional systems).

In a plurality system, the candidate who receives the highest number of votes wins the seat. This does not require to secure a majority (more than 50% of the votes). Instead, the winner is simply the candidate with the largest number of votes, even if that total is less than 50%.

A majority system requires a majority of more than 50% to win. If none of the candidates gets that amount, then the election officials hold a second election with a select number of candidates from the first round.

The proportionality establishes a correlation between the percentage of votes and the percentage of seats.

Irish election voting process

According to the general information on election day, Ireland uses proportional representation (PR) for voting in elections; with each voter having a single transferable vote (STV).

PR-STV is a candidate-based voting system. The electorate can choose to vote for as many or as few candidates as they prefer.

The voter’s first preference vote – the candidate they give their number 1 vote to – is most important and is always counted. A voter’s second and subsequent preferences may be counted if their preferred candidate is eliminated at the end of a counting round. Transfers refer to these additional votes.

Referendums ask citizens to vote on changes to the Irish charter on a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ basis.