Ireland's main opposition party Sinn Fein looked on course to narrowly win the most votes at a general election on Friday, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it,

Friday's vote is "an historic opportunity" to elect Ireland's first female prime minister, Ms McDonald says, and should that happen, she plans to put reunification at the heart of government, with a referendum by 2030.

Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are in a tight race to become Ireland’s next taoiseach, leaving Sinn Fein locked out of power, according to the latest general election results.

Ireland's main opposition Sinn Fein looked on course to win the most votes at a general election by the narrowest of margins on Friday, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it,

Results from Ireland’s election suggest the two dominant center-right parties look likely to form a new government

Ireland prepared on Sunday to reshuffle the same big parties into a new government after a general election returned incumbents that have channelled record corporation tax receipts into higher spending.

Ireland is heading for a return of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Simon Harris’s Fine Gael party and Fianna Fail, as voters bucked a recent international trend of ousting incumbent parties.

Vote counting got underway Saturday in Ireland’s national election after an exit poll suggested the contest is a close-fought race among the country’s three largest political parties. Ballot boxes were opened at 9 a.

At one level, the vote was an endorsement of continuity, but the stability in Ireland’s political center ground masked volatility on the fringes.