Ireland voted on Friday in an election which could make it the latest eurozone country to face political instability as anger over austerity erodes support for traditional parties. A steady turnout was reported as families, pensioners and people coming from work filed into schools and church buildings transformed into polling stations until 2200 GMT on Friday.
Voters were greeted with the list of candidates in their constituency, which they must rank in preference under Ireland's proportional representation system, before slipping their papers into locked ballot boxes. "They won't make the majority that's needed," said architect Briain Colgan, 50, after voting in a south Dublin constituency where established parties are pitted against a spectrum of independents and new groups in a race for four seats.
The first indications of results are expected with the release of an exit poll at 0700 GMT on Tuesday as counting gets under way, a process likely to continue all weekend. Opinion polls have indicated that the coalition led by Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael may struggle to form a majority for a second term due to a fall in support for junior partners Labour, whose centre-left base has been alienated by austerity cuts.
Possible post-election scenarios include Kenny cobbling together a coalition with a mix of independents and small parties, a re-run of the election or a historic "grand coalition" between his Fine Gael party and old rivals Fianna Fail - bitter adversaries since Ireland's 1920s civil war. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who was once seen as the political voice of the IRA during the sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, is hoping his party's anti-austerity campaigning will deliver an election breakthrough. The uncertainty leaves Ireland vulnerable, particularly at a time when there is growing concern that its main trading partner Britain could vote to leave the European Union in a referendum in June.