Irish PM's party wins by-election, junior partner suffers

By Stephen Mangan

ASHBOURNE, Ireland (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael party held its seat in a by-election on Thursday, but its junior coalition partner Labour was beaten into fifth place in a humiliating defeat.

Labour went into government for the first time since the late 1990s two years ago on a promise to end the previous administration's adherence to "Frankfurt's Way", an austerity plan the party said was dictated by the European Central Bank.

However the centre-left party has angered supporters by pursuing the tough austerity required under the country's EU/IMF bailout and its vote in the Meath East constituency collapsed to 4.6 percent from 21 percent last time.

Fine Gael's Helen McEntee captured 38.5 percent of the vote to win the seat left vacant when her father committed suicide last year. The coalition would have kept its record parliamentary majority even if she had lost.

"I voted for Labour last time out but will never vote for them again," said Abigail Flores, a mother-of-two living in Ashbourne, a town 20 km north of Dublin where so-called "ghost estates" lie unfinished after a spectacular property crash. She said she had no interest in voting this time around.

"I would have always voted for Labour and so would my parents and sisters but they've shown in the last two years that they're just spineless and are no different from Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. They don't actually stand for anything."

By fielding the daughter of the late junior minister Shane McEntee, analysts said Fine Gael sheltered itself somewhat from voter anger. Political dynasties are common in Ireland, Kenny won his first election 38 years ago after his father's death.

The fellow centre-right Fianna Fail, which dominated Irish politics before losing three-quarters of its seats in humbling elections held after it signed up to the bailout, came second after jumping to 32.9 percent from 19 percent two years ago.

A rise of just four percentage points to 13 percent for Sinn Fein, the only major party rallying against austerity, showed the limited Irish appetite for the type of populist political movements making inroads elsewhere in Europe.

"DIFFICULT DAY"

A lack of opposition to deep tax hikes and spending cuts has helped Ireland hit the targets set under its bailout and close in on getting off emergency EU and IMF assistance, a move cemented last month by a landmark 10-year bond sale.

But that has meant little to Labour's traditional working class support base which has been hit hard by high unemployment. State workers face fresh cuts in a new public sector pay deal.

"It's a difficult day for Labour, people are very angry out there and clearly the Labour Party has been singled out for the brunt of responsibility," Pat Rabbitte, a senior Labour minister, told the Today FM radio station.

"There's little point in trying to explain to the individual voter that bond prices are cheaper, that butters no parsnips as far as they're concerned."

Analysts said the loss poses little threat to the coalition and its austerity push as Labour, which has already seen five of its 38 MPs defect from the party, would be unlikely to leave government and force an election with support so low.

"It will make life a bit more uncomfortable but I can't really see what they can do to stem to flow other than to steady the nerves and hope that the economy turns around," said Eoin O'Malley, politics lecturer at Dublin City University.

(Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irish-pms-party-set-election-win-junior-partner-180443495--business.html

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