Tired of a two-party system, Irish voters have made Sinn Féin mainstream
Sinn Féin’s breakthrough in Ireland’s general election was decades in the making, but not even Sinn Féin saw it coming.
Once a revolutionary party associated with guns and balaclavas, a toxic brand, it slowly edged from the fringe into the mainstream, inch by inch, and then on Saturday made a giant leap.
An exit poll gave Sinn Féin 22.3% of the vote, a statistical dead heat with Fine Gael on 22.4% and Fianna Fáil on 22.2%, two centrist rivals that have dominated Ireland for a century.
Full results are expected on Monday or Tuesday, but early tallies from count centres across Ireland on Sunday suggested the republican party had indeed made unprecedented gains and realigned Irish politics.
It did so in large part by appealing to voters who felt left behind by a booming economy and chafed at soaring rents, homelessness, insurance costs and hospital waiting lists. [Continue reading…]