Turnout Brisk as Irish Vote in General Election

The Irish voted Tuesday in a general election brought about by record debt and unemployment, with opinion polls forecasting defeat for Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald and his Fine Gael party.

But the electorate could leave the favorite, former Prime Minister Charles Haughey, unable to form a government strong enough to jolt the country out of its economic woes.

Coalitions or minority governments emerged from three previous elections over the last six years.

Polls opened at 9 a.m. and closed at 9 p.m. A total of 459 candidates were seeking the 166 seats in the Dail, or Parliament. Vote counting begins 12 hours after polls close, and early results were expected by noon today.

Irish state radio reported “a brisk turnout,” and state television estimated 75% of those eligible voted. In the 1982 election the turnout was 72.8%.

Absolute control of Parliament would signal a remarkable comeback by Haughey and his Fianna Fail party. The charismatic, 61-year-old Haughey has served two abbreviated terms as prime minister, after each of which his political career was written off.

For FitzGerald, also 61, a donnish, mild-mannered economist, defeat could end his political career.

FitzGerald won a place in history through his efforts to make peace in Northern Ireland, crowned by the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. This accord for the first time gave mainly Roman Catholic Ireland a voice in running the British province, where Protestants outnumber Catholics 3 to 2.