By Michael Gallagher Lots of well-informed fine-grained analysis around of the constituency review published earlier this week by the Electoral Commission (EC). On the bigger picture, 4 points. 1. EC had no option but to respect the legislation, but regrettable that that specifies that all constituencies must be in range of 3–5 seats. Academic consensus…
Yesterday, Northern Ireland’s voters went to the polls to elect a new assembly. Counting is now underway in early elections that were sparked by a row between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) over the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme. The scandal, however, revealed much wider differences between the partners in the North’s compulsory…
Guest post by Peter Emerson, director of the deBorda Institute in Belfast. (If you ask a silly question, you get either a silly answer… or nothing. That was Brexit, and we still don’t know what the answer was, is, or will be.)
If you felt that media coverage of the recent US Presidential Election appeared to lack focus on policy issues, you may well be correct.
Amid the current sometimes fevered speculation over the date of the election to the 32nd Dáil, one constant refrain is that the timing of the election is the prerogative of the Taoiseach. Members of Fine Gael, while they might express a personal preference, are punctilious in adding that ‘of course’ it is entirely up to…
Common to all the discussions about political reform in Ireland is the need to reduce the excessive centralization of power in the executive. In recent posts I’ve examined this from the perspective of Dail reform. This post focuses on the administration of elections in Ireland. A good starting point is this document, which was the…
The last election was seen at the time as an electoral earthquake. In the midst of the worst economic crisis in our history it was to be expected that the voters would be gunning for the government of the day. The devastation of Fianna Fáil (losing three-quarters of their seats) and the disappearance of the…
In this newly published work in Electoral Studies, I (along with two colleagues: Dr. Maria Laura Sudulich of EUI Florence and Professor David Farrell of University College Dublin) asked whether candidates who spent more money were more likely to succeed at European Parliament (EP) elections.
Posted by Eoin O’Malley If electronic voting was rejected because of the absence of a paper trail, perhaps this voting system could solve that problem. It would mean an end to the tallymen, and for that reason alone doesn’t get my vote. #mce_temp_url#
Michael Gallagher (6th September, 2010) Concerns are raised from time to time, not just in this country, that geographical representation in parliament creates behaviour among legislators that is not consistent with the national interest. Legislators elected, under whatever electoral system, from geographical constituencies have an obvious incentive to put the interests of their constituents first…
Irish Politics Forum 