Voters take to the polls
Getty ImagesVoting has begun in Ireland’s general election.
Voters can cast their votes until 22:00 local time to elect their representatives to serve as members of the House of Representatives (TD) in the lower house of the Irish Parliament.
The next House of Representatives, the 34th, will have 174 TDs, up from 160 in 2020.
Friday’s vote comes after three weeks of campaigning.
Getty ImagesVoters will elect 173 TDs, with one seat in the House of Representatives going to the Ceann Comhairle (Speaker).
Eighty-eight TD is the number required to obtain a majority vote.
The new TD will represent 43 constituencies in the Republic of Ireland.
More than 3.4 million people are registered to vote in the Republic of Ireland.
To vote in the election, voters must be over 18, an Irish or British citizen, resident in Ireland, and listed on the Irish Electoral Register.
Candidates for the election include representatives from the three main parties – outgoing coalition partners Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, as well as the main opposition party Sinn Féin in the outgoing House of Representatives.
These parties are joined by many smaller parties and a large number of independent candidates.
Counting began on Saturday morning and is expected to continue into the weekend and possibly into next week.
The first meeting of the 34th House of Representatives is scheduled for Wednesday, December 18 at 10:30.
A government is formally formed when the House of Representatives votes to appoint a new Taoiseach (Taoiseach of Ireland).
