E-Paper
After poll loss, Indian-origin Leo Varadkar quits as Ireland PM
The majority mark in the 160-seat parliament (effectively 159, since the speaker does not vote) is 80. Varadkar’s Fine Gael party won 35 seats, Fianna Fail 38 and Sinn Fein 35. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are against forming a coalition with Sinn Fein.
Leo Varadkar, who became the first Indian-origin prime minister of Ireland in 2017, resigned on Thursday night after his party failed to win a majority or emerge as the single largest party in the February 8 election that threw up a hung parliament.
Varadkar, 41, will continue in the post until the next government takes over, an official announcement in Dublin said. Talks to form a coalition government are due to be held over three weeks, during which Varadkar will not be able to make major policy decisions.
After the first sitting of the Ireland parliament after the election concluded on Thursday, Varadkar said: “The responsibility is now on all of us to provide good government and, indeed good opposition, because that’s what the people have every right to expect”.
The majority mark in the 160-seat parliament (effectively 159, since the speaker does not vote) is 80. Varadkar’s Fine Gael party won 35 seats, Fianna Fail 38 and Sinn Fein 35. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are against forming a coalition with Sinn Fein.
With a base in both Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of UK), Sinn Fein emerged as a major factor, exploiting ennui in the country wracked by rising housing costs and the people not experiencing economic recovery in recent years.
Sinn Fein was known as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army that was responsible for violence and terrorism for years in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, until peace returned with the Good Friday agreement of 1998.
Sinn Fein seeks reunification of the island of Ireland, promising a referendum within five years. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have the same objective in the long-term, but do not favour the referendum soon enough.
