The Prime Minister of Ireland unexpectedly announces his resignation

The Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, announced his resignation this Wednesday by surprise. He taoiseach (as the head of the Government of the Republic is usually called in the Irish term) will remain in his position for at least a month, until his party, the conservative Fine Gael, elects a replacement. The decision does not imply an electoral advance.

The current Government is made up of the country’s two historic political formations, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, which joined forces to prevent the access to power of the party with the most votes in the last general elections, held almost four years ago: the Sinn Féin, former political arm of the IRA terrorist organization.

In the distribution agreed between the two parties, it was up to Fine Gael to preside over the Executive in the second part of the mandate, and will be able to elect a replacement for Varadkar. The next general elections are scheduled for March next year.

“My reasons for resigning are both personal and political”; the Prime Minister explained in a speech full of emotion, in front of the Government Buildings in Dublin, which house, among others, the Department of taoiseach. Varadkar has described his seven years at the head of the Executive – over two terms – as the “fullest time” of his life, and has been convinced that his party will be capable of obtaining a good result in the next elections. The still head of the Government was a breath of fresh air seven years ago. Openly homosexual and the son of immigrants, he represented the modern Ireland that was definitively detached from the atavistic image of him.

However, it is precisely the bad electoral omens that explain the withdrawal of the politician, who announced his irrevocable decision to his party and coalition partners on Tuesday. Polls indicate a worrying decline for Fine Gael, and at least 11 of its current 33 deputies (in a Parliament with 160 seats) have already announced that they do not plan to stand for re-election. In a system that gives a clear electoral advantage to the representative who already has a seat over the one who intends to take it away, this massive withdrawal gives a clear idea of the internal mood in the party.

The recent majority rejection by Irish citizens of two seemingly innocuous constitutional reform proposals with a clear progressive message has revealed the tremendous current disconnection between voters and the politicians at the helm. The changes sought to define a broader constitutional concept of the “family”, as well as to end the anachronistic role that the fundamental law grants to women, as the main “support of the State” but “within the house.”

The slap received by the Government, with the majority not supporting the proposal, was more a denunciation of the lukewarmness, confusion and lack of consistency of the Executive and its allies than the real image of a society that is no longer so conservative and traditional at all. like decades ago. But Fine Gael, a liberal-conservative party that has never felt comfortable with progressive politics, showed little effort in pushing for reforms. And Fianna Fáil long ago lost connection with a large part of the workers and voters further to the left, who were not enthusiastic about a social democratic offer weighed down by an excess of institutionality.

After some reflection, Varadkar explained, he has come to the conclusion that only a new leader and candidate could ensure that the current Government could be re-elected. “After seven years in office, I do not feel like the best person to do this job,” he said.

Its government partner, Fianna Fáil, has 36 seats. The same as Sinn Féin, which achieved, however, more support in votes than any of the other two historical parties in quantitative terms. Its representatives, along with other opposition parties, have already demanded an early election.

Although polls have lowered the enthusiasm with which Sinn Féin achieved its historic electoral victory, in 2020, the party – whose leader, Mary Lou McDonald, has managed to blur the aggressive and contaminated image of a past of sectarian violence that it had under Gerry Adams — would still be the most voted in a hypothetical general election. Faced with a Parliament that will see its composition expanded by up to 15 seats, due to the increase in the Irish population, the possibilities of a new coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil (in the end, two branches of the same nationalist tree that emerged from independence of the republic 100 years ago) will be reduced, and analysts do not rule out a Sinn Féin minority government, occasionally supported by a variety of minority groups such as the Greens, Labour, the Social Democrats or some independents.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who served as prime minister for the first two years of the coalition and now serves as foreign secretary, has paid tribute to Varadkar and acknowledged his shock: “To be honest, I was quite surprised. listen to what their intentions were,” he acknowledged.

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