Voting in the early parliamentary elections began in Ireland on Friday, November 29.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. on Friday and will remain open until 10:00 p.m. Exit polls with voting projections will be published immediately after the stations close.
There are 3.7 million eligible voters, which is more than 400,000 higher than in 2020. Record voter turnout is expected for these elections.
One of the latest polls showed that the party of Ireland’s Prime Minister, Simon Harris, Fine Gael, has dropped to third place after losing a quarter of its support in less than two weeks.
Harris decided to hold elections this year, rather than waiting for the end of the term in March. The 38-year-old Harris aims to maintain the 14-year rule of his political party, Fine Gael, which he took over in April of this year following the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
