Simon Harris will become the youngest prime minister (PM) of Ireland. That was after he was elected to replace Leo Varadkar as leader of the party that is now in power, Fine Gael.
Harris, a 37-year-old minister best known for helping direct the initial response to Covid-19, will outline some of her priorities to party members at an event in the Irish city of Athlone on Sunday (24/3).
He will be officially elected as PM of Ireland by parliament in a session scheduled for April 9. The majority of the Irish parliament will elect him thanks to the support of coalition partner Fine Gael (the liberal conservative and Christian democratic party in Ireland).
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Harris has no more than a year to save the coalition from defeat in parliamentary elections. Polls over the past three years have ranked Sinn Fein, a left-wing party that supports unification with Northern Ireland, a British province, as the favorite to lead the next government.
However, two more polls confirmed the trend in support for Sinn Fein is down compared to 12-18 months ago. Although the two polls show that small parties and independent candidates benefit more than the government coalition parties.
A Business Post/Red C poll conducted before Varadkar’s exit showed Sinn Fein’s lead over Fine Gael stuck at 6 percentage points. Meanwhile the Irish Independent/Ireland Thinks survey showed a 5 point lead after a small rise for Fine Gael.
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Varadkar announced his resignation on Wednesday, surprising his closest political allies, saying Fine Gael would have a better chance of being re-elected under another leader.
Harris has spoken out in recent days about politics and criticized the government for its lack of educational support for her autistic brother. He tries to portray himself as an amateur politician despite spending most of his adult life in parliament.
He was one of the Irish government’s most prominent and influential ministers. His presence on social media made one of his opponents in parliament dub Harris the TikTok taoiseach or PM TikTok.
Although the economy has grown rapidly under Varadkar’s leadership, successive governments, of which Harris has been part, have struggled to overcome a decade-long housing crisis and, more recently, pressure from high numbers of asylum seekers and refugees.
Inheriting a three-party coalition government working on an agreed policy program would give Harris little room for freewheeling new policy initiatives. (AFP/M-3)
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