‹ 2007 · members
Next Irish general election
165 of 166 seats in Dáil Éireann
No later than 14 July 2012
Leader		Brian Cowen	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore
Party		Fianna Fáil	Fine Gael	Labour Party
Leader since		7 May 2008	2 June 2002	6 September 2007
Leader's seat		Laois–Offaly	Mayo	Dún Laoghaire
Last election		77 seats, 41.6%	51 seats, 27.3%	20 seats, 10.1%
Leader		John Gormley	Gerry Adams	Joe Higgins
Party		Green Party	Sinn Féin	Socialist Party
Leader since		17 July 2007	1983	1996
Leader's seat		Dublin South East	Belfast West (UK parliament) / Belfast West (NI Assembly)	Dublin (EU parliament)
Last election		6 seats, 4.7%	4 seats, 6.9%	0 seats, 0.6%

The next Irish general election must take place by 2012 at the latest. The election will be called following the dissolution of the 30th Dáil by the President, at the request of the Taoiseach. The electorate will elect the members of the 31st Dáil who will assemble shortly afterwards to elect a Taoiseach following agreement on the Government of the 31st Dáil.

Contents 1 Date 2 Electoral system 3 Outgoing TDs 4 Opinion polls 5 References

[edit] Date

Current statute requires that the Dáil be dissolved within five years after its first meeting (14 June 2007) following the previous election and the election must take place not later than thirty days after the dissolution. The election, therefore, must take place no later than 14 July 2012.^[1]

[edit] Electoral system

The system of voting will be Proportional Representation with a Single Transferable Vote, also known as PR-STV.^[2] The general election will take place in 43 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 165 of the 166 Dáil Éireann seats (The Ceann Comhairle is automatically re-elected).^[3]

[edit] Outgoing TDs

The following TDs have announced that they will not contest the next election:

Constituency	Departing TD		Party
Kerry South		Jackie Healy-Rae[4]	Independent
Dublin South		Tom Kitt[5]	Fianna Fáil

[edit] Opinion polls

The current government consists of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, supported by several independents. Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin and other independents provide the opposition.

Date	Source	Fianna Fáil	Fine Gael	Labour Party	Green Party	Sinn Féin	Independents/Others
24 May 2007	General election	41.56%	27.32%	10.13%	4.69%	6.94%	9.36% (PDs 2.73%)
30 March 2008	Sunday Business Post[6]	35%	30%	10%	8%	9%	8% (PDs 1%)
21 September 2008	Sunday Business Post[7]	36%	28%	9%	7%	9%	11% (PDs 3%)
26 October 2008	Sunday Business Post[8]	26%	33%	15%	6%	10%	10% (PDs 2%)
14 November 2008	Irish Times[9]	27%	34%	14%	4%	8%	13%
23 November 2008	Sunday Business Post [10]	30%	35%	14%	5%	8%	8%
1 February 2009	Sunday Business Post[11]	28%	33%	14%	8%	9%	8%
13 February 2009	Irish Times[12]	22%	32%	24%	4%	9%	9%
27 February 2009	Irish Independent[13]	25%	30%	22%	5%	7%	10%
1 March 2009	Sunday Business Post[14]	23%	30%	22%	6%	11%	8%
29 March 2009	Sunday Business Post[15]	28%	31%	17%	7%	7%	10%
26 April 2009	Sunday Business Post[16]	23%	33%	19%	7%	8%	10%
15 May 2009	Irish Times[17]	21%	38%	20%	3%	9%	10%
17 May 2009	Sunday Business Post[18]	24%	34%	18%	5%	7%	12%
29 May 2009	Irish Times[19]	20%	36%	23%	3%	8%	10%
31 May 2009	Sunday Business Post[20]	21%	34%	18%	4%	10%	13%
5 June 2009	European election	24.12%	29.13%	13.91%	1.90%	11.21%	19.72%
5 June 2009	Local elections	25.4%	32.2%	14.7%	2.3%	7.4%	18.0%
3 September 2009	Irish Times[21]	17%	34%	24%	3%	10%	12%
26 September 2009	Irish Times[22]	20%	31%	25%	4%	9%	11%
25 October 2009	Sunday Business Post[23]	25%	35%	19%	3%	9%	9%
22 November 2009	Sunday Business Post[24]	23%	36%	17%	5%	10%	9%

[edit] References

v • d • e Elections and referendums in the Republic of Ireland General elections 1918 · 1921 · 1922 · 1923 · 1927 (Jun) · 1927 (Sep) · 1932 · 1933 · 1937 · 1938 · 1943 · 1944 · 1948 · 1951 · 1954 · 1957 · 1961 · 1965 · 1969 · 1973 · 1977 · 1981 · 1982 (Feb) · 1982 (Nov) · 1987 · 1989 · 1992 · 1997 · 2002 · 2007 · next · By-elections Presidential elections 1938* · 1945 · 1952* · 1959 · 1966 · 1973 · 1974* · 1976* · 1983* · 1990 · 1997 · 2004* · next Referendums 1937 · 1959 · 1968 · 1972 (May) · 1972 (Dec) · 1979 · 1983 · 1984 · 1986 · 1987 · 1992 (Jun) · 1992 (Nov) · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2001 · 2002 (Mar) · 2002 (Oct) · 2004 · 2008 · 2009 European elections 1979 · 1984 · 1989 · 1994 · 1999 · 2004 · 2009 Local elections 1899 · 1902 · 1905 · 1908 · 1911 · 1914 · 1920 · 1925 · 1928 · 1934 · 1942 · 1945 · 1950 · 1955 · 1960 · 1967 · 1974 · 1979 · 1985 · 1991 · 1999 · 2004  · 2009 *Uncontested