The Irish Electorate Are Not to Blame for the Political Stalemate

There is a political stalemate in Ireland, where the two traditional right-wing parties (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael), who have won between them a majority of seats, have refused to go into coalition or support one another in a minority government. Over the last two months a piece of political theatre has played out around this, packed with front-page headlines about how talks have progressed, then broken down, and then progressed again. The two parties, who have more in common with each other than any other Irish political parties, refuse to work together – primarily because they feel an entitlement to lead both government and the opposition, and do not want a third party such as Sinn Fein to become the main opposition.[…]

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