Politics in Ireland has traditionally been dominated by two parties - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Both parties emerged following a split in nationalist opinion over the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. Sinn Féin has become the main opposition party after making significant gains in 2020 and topping the popular vote, winning 37 seats.

The exit poll put the left wing Sinn Fein on 21.1%, the centre-right Fine Gael of Prime Minister Simon Harris on 21.0% and like-minded coalition partner Fianna Fail on 19.5%. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail pledged ahead of the election to seek to form a coalition without Sinn Fein,

Counting has begun in the Irish general election, as exit polls suggest a close contest between the three major parties.

An exit poll in Ireland’s general election suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government. A poll released as voting ended at 10 p.

Ireland's main opposition party Sinn Fein looked on course to narrowly win the most votes at a general election on Friday, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it,