Haughey Leads in Irish Vote, May Lack Majority

Veteran opposition leader Charles J. Haughey’s Fianna Fail Party appeared headed for victory in Ireland’s general election Wednesday, but it remained uncertain whether he would govern with an absolute majority.

As counting progressed into the early hours today under Ireland’s complex system that weighs a voter’s choice of candidate in order of preference, the Fianna Fail (Republican) Party had won 44% of the popular vote but was still given only an outside chance of gaining the 84 seats required for a majority in the 166-seat Irish Parliament.

Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael (United Ireland) Party trailed badly with just 27% of the vote, while its coalition Labor Party partner over the past four years had won just 4% of the vote.

Progressive Democrats Strong

FitzGerald’s electoral strength was seriously eroded by the Progressive Democrats led by Desmond O’Malley, which in its first-ever election emerged as a powerful third force in Irish politics with nearly 12% of the popular vote.

The results amount to a stinging repudiation of FitzGerald’s fiscal policies and his campaign message that only a program of Draconian austerity could nurse Ireland back to economic health.

The election followed a single-issue campaign dominated by Ireland’s most serious economic crisis in a generation, a crisis that has spawned 19% unemployment and a resumption of emigration for the first time in two decades.

Haughey, who has twice previously served as prime minister, ran on a vaguely worded program of tax cuts, reduced interest rates and increased public spending to revive the economy.

Support Offered

Responding to questions late Wednesday, FitzGerald appeared to concede defeat and offered his opponent support in making tough economic decisions.

“I and my party will want to support (Haughey’s) government in constructive action it may wish to take on the economy, even if that means supporting them in difficult decisions,” FitzGerald said.

The prime minister added that an attempt to fight Haughey in his effort to revive the economy, “when so much is at stake for the country, would be wrong and counterproductive.”

During the course of the campaign, Haughey voiced reservations about the 15-month-old Anglo-Irish agreement that gives the republic a consultative voice in British-controlled Northern Ireland.

U.S. Economic Aid

However, Haughey pledged to support the accord, which has been backed by $120 million in U.S. economic assistance over a three-year period.

The agreement is widely seen as FitzGerald’s most important achievement as prime minister. Its popularity in the Irish Republic, coupled with the strong backing of Ulster’s moderate Catholic leaders, makes any major change unlikely under Haughey, observers believe.

“Whatever progress has been made won’t be undermined in any way,” Haughey pledged late Wednesday.

Haughey had also stressed during his campaign that only a strong majority government could tackle Ireland’s economic crisis.

‘Collapsed Completely’

“The Fine Gael vote seems to have collapsed completely,” he said. “I’m confident there will be a majority Fianna Fail government.”

Among the casualties was a former leading Fine Gael member of Parliament, Alice Glenn, who vigorously campaigned against last summer’s referendum to legalize divorce, using the slogan that a woman voting for divorce was like a turkey voting for Christmas.

Serious Setback

The defeat of the referendum was a serious setback for FitzGerald, seen by many as a prime minister whose principal goal was to lift restrictive legislation on such controversial issues as contraception, abortion and divorce.

Traditionally, the main Irish political parties have tended to divide more on basic constitutional issues, such as the question of Irish unity and the role of the Roman Catholic Church, rather than the right-left splits that characterize the political landscape in other West European democracies.

The present campaign was marked more by the differing personal styles of the main party leaders than by any deep-seated ideological differences between them.

Intellectual Approach

FitzGerald, a devout family man with a measured, intellectual approach to governing, came to office with the reputation of an economic wizard, but he proved incapable of dealing with his country’s mounting economic ills.

By contrast, Haughey has long appealed to Irish populist sentiments, approaching his job with a sense of disregard for convention that many Irish voters find refreshing.

Those who worked with him when he was finance minister in the late 1960s described him as an able, highly efficient Cabinet member. Yet he was forced to resign his post and was tried for conspiring to use government funds to smuggle weapons to the Irish Republican Army guerrillas fighting in Ulster. He was ultimately acquitted.

Haughey first became prime minister for 18 months in December, 1979, taking over after the resignation of his party colleague Jack Lynch.