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The Irish general election of 2007 took place on 24 May , 2007 after the Dissolution of the 29th Dáil by the President on 29 April , 2007 , at the request of the Taoiseach . The electorate was given the task of choosing the Members Of The 30th Dáil who met on 14 June , 2007 to nominate a Taoiseach and ratify the ministers of the Government Of The 30th Dáil . While Fine Gael gained 20 seats, Fianna Fáil remained the largest party. The election was considered a success for Fianna Fáil; however, Fianna Fáil's junior coalition partners in the 29th Dáil, the Progressive Democrats , lost six of their eight seats. On newspaper article, 14 June , 2007 .'' ELECTION DATE & SYSTEM On 29 April , 2007 , President Mary McAleese dissolved the 29th Dáil on the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern . The election date was officially set as 24 May , 2007 ; the 30th Dáil would convene on 14 June , 2007 at which stage the Taoiseach would be nominated and the rest of the Government approved for appointment by the President. Official campaigning began as soon as the announcement had been made. Current statute requires that the Dáil be dissolved within five years after its first meeting ( June 6 , 2002 ) following the previous election and the election must take place not later than thirty days after the dissolution.Article 16.5 of the Constitution Of Ireland states that the Dáil may sit for a period of up to seven years from its first meeting. It also allows a shorter period to be fixed by law; this is currently fixed at five years. The Taoiseach extended the life of the 29th Dáil close to a full five years. After the 2002 General Election he commented that his prior confirmation of this policy had caused problems in the last year of his government. Ahern likely to make major Cabinet changes There was speculation in 2005 that he might have moved to dissolve parliament early in order to catch the opposition off guard, although this did not transpire. In 2005, in anticipation of the election date, the parties began candidate selections and from mid-2005 some TDs announced their retirement plans. A statement by report, 21 December , 2006 . There was some controversy Should the election be held on Friday? – ''Irish Times'' over which day of the week the election should have been held on, as some opposition parties insisted that a weekend polling day would have made it easier for those studying or working away from home to vote. Ireland's voter registration process presents difficulties for people who live at a second address for part of the week. Previous elections and referendums have been held on Thursdays, Fridays and (in one case) a Wednesday. For the 2007 election, polling day was a Thursday. The Taoiseach denied that the election was called on Sunday, report, 30 April , 2007 . The closing time and date for nominations was 12:00 Irish Summer Time on Wednesday, May 9 , 2007 . A list of candidates for the 2007 election is available through this link {Link without Title} . Polls were open from 07:30 until 22:30 throughout Ireland for 165 of the 166 Dáil Éireann seats (the '' Ceann Comhairle '' is automatically re-elected).Article 16.6 of the constitution requires that "provision shall be made by law" such that the Ceann Comhairle "be deemed without any actual election to be elected a member of Dáil Éireann". The current law making such provision is the Electoral Act, 1992. CAMPAIGN As a result of falling opinion poll ratings for the outgoing government in the months approaching the start of the campaign, the election was one of the more closely fought in decades, with the outcome being very uncertain. during the campaign]] This election was fought as a contest for Taoiseach between the outgoing Fianna Fáil – Progressive Democrats coalition and the "Alliance for Change"; a proposed Fine Gael – Labour Party coalition. Opinion polls did not show either option as being certain, and other possibilities include Fianna Fáil-led coalition with other parties, or Fine Gael and the Labour Party with the Green Party . Fine Gael and the Labour Party had an agreed Transfer pact. The Green Party was non-aligned but made statements favouring a change from the outgoing Government. All parties claimed that they would not include Sinn Féin in a new Government. Due to the run-up of the Dáil to the maximum allowable life-span, it was clear to all parties that the election would be held early Summer 2007 and all parties held "conferences" during the Spring to announce policies. At this time Fine Gael launched a "Contract for a Better Ireland" which was a centrepiece of their campaign. The early conferences led to the campaign being described as one of the longest in recent times. The campaign officially kicked off on the dissolution of the Dáil and the manner of this dissolution, done early on a Sunday morning, led to speculation about the reason for this during the first week of the campaign. The leaking and publication just before the election was called, of evidence about personal finance transactions in December 1994 given to the Mahon Tribunal by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern led to the first two weeks of the campaign being dominated by questions about his fitness to serve as Taoiseach, and required the Progressive Democrats to decide if they would pull out of Government before the election was held, but they decided to remain. The Tribunal itself decided to postpone sittings during the campaign. Following a statement by the Taoiseach, the remainder of the campaign concentrated on the traditional issues of health, education, crime and the economy, with debate centring on the ability of the various parties to deliver on the various totals of hospital beds, Gardaí and pupil-teacher ratios they were promising. Prime Time hosted a debate among the potential candidates for Tánaiste and a separate debate between Ahern and Enda Kenny coverage of which concentrated on Kenny's ability to serve as Taoiseach given his lack of experience. Fianna Fáil Ministers Dick Roche and Martin Cullen were given little exposure on the national media during the campaign, but Finance minister Brian Cowen engaged in some robust exchanges towards the end of the campaign was reported to have been an asset to the party. Opinion polls during the early stages of the campaign showed the Alliance for Change gaining on the Government and the likelihood of Kenny becoming Taoiseach increased, with some commentators predicting that Fianna Fáil would return with only 65 seats. In the last week of the campaign, following the leaders debate, an Irish Times /MRBI poll showed a recovery for Fianna Fáil to 41% which was replicated on polling day. CONSTITUENCY CHANGES ''See Parliamentary Constituencies In The Republic Of Ireland '' and '' Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005 '' for full details of the constituencies for the 30th Dáil.
The preliminary findings from the 2006 Census of Population disclosed that the population of was sought by the Minister For The Environment, Heritage & Local Government . It was decided to make no further constituency revisions before the election. Two outgoing deputies, however, challenged this decision in the High Court. The election went ahead while the parties awaited the High Court's reserved judgment in this action. {Link without Title} OVERVIEW The general election result was significant for a number of reasons:
The 2007 election results saw Fine Gael win seats at the expense of the smaller parties and independents. The proportion of votes only increased significantly for '' newspaper article, 28 May , 2007 The election for Taoiseach took place in the Dáil on 14 June 2007 with Bertie Ahern becoming Taoiseach again. RESULT The Fathers Rights-Responsibility Party, Immigration Control Platform and Irish Socialist Network were not registered as political parties, so their candidates appeared on ballot papers as independents. The People Before Profit Alliance registered as a political party after the deadline for their party name to appear on ballot papers, so their candidates also appeared as independents."[http://www.ireland.com/focus/election2007/features/features19.html Small groups seek to end large parties' dominance]", '' Irish Times '' Distribution of seats Turnout The total Irish electorate registered as eligible to vote as of As 2,063,700 first preference votes were cast in the general election this equates to a voter turnout of 67.29%. DáIL MEMBERSHIP CHANGES The following changes took place as a result of the election:
Outgoing TDs are listed in the constituency they represented in the outgoing Dáil. For Batt O'Keeffe and possibly others, this differs from the constituency they contested in the election. O'Keeffe, who was elected in his largely new constituency of Cork North West , is listed both as a departing TD from his old constituency of Cork South Central and a successor TD from Cork North West. Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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