In Ireland, after four months of negotiations, Fianna Fail Party’s leader Martin has been elected Prime Minister. However, he will resign after two years, he said to the coalition partners.
The Irish Parliament has elected a new head of government. Micheál Martin of the bourgeois party Fianna Fail will lead a coalition with the bourgeois Fine Gael and the Irish Greens.
The formation of the green bourgeois coalition government in Ireland is considered historic. Until now, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail had alternated in government. Former Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael spoke of the end of a civil war in Parliament between the two conservative parties. The office of head of government is slated to return to Varadkar at the end of 2022, who will continue to serve as deputy head of government.
Sinn Fein opposition leader
Largest opposition party will be left-wing Sinn Fein led by Mary Lou McDonald. The party had a surprise success in the February election, changing the political landscape. For a long time, Sinn Fein did not play a serious role in the Republic of Ireland, but was considered a political arm of the underground organization IRA.
“I think the civil war policy in our country is long gone, but today the civil war ends in our parliament,” said Martin’s predecessor Varadkar. Together, the three parties would offer the country what it needed – “a stable government to make our country and our world better”.
Difficult coalition negotiations
A fragmented parliament emerged from the parliamentary election in February. Fianna Fail became the strongest force with 38 of the 160 parliamentary seats. Fine Gael won 35 seats. The Greens have twelve mandates and were therefore able to secure a number of concessions from the major allies.
The vote did not take place in the Parliament building in Dublin, but in a conference center because of the distance rules in the coronavirus pandemic. Martin said that coping with the Corona crisis was the most important task in the coming months. “The fight against the virus is not over,” he said.
