Ahern’s Party Looks Poised to Win Big
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was poised for victory in parliamentary elections his party was odds-on favorite to win.
As polls closed, state broadcaster RTE estimated voter turnout as high as 70% in some of Ireland’s 42 constituencies, despite stormy weather in much of the country. About 3million people were eligible to vote.
The only questions were whether Ahern’s Fianna Fail would be the first party to take an overall majority in the 166-seat Parliament since 1977 and how many seats would go to hard-line Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.
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