At stake in this election:

• 165 seats in the House of Representatives (Dail Eireann)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mary MCALEESE *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Bertie AHERN
• Assembly: Ireland has a bicameral Parliament (Oireachtas) consisting of the Senate (Seanad Eireann) with 60 seats and the House of Representatives (Dail Eireann) with 166 seats.

* The presidential term is renewable once.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by a majority system with preferential vote to serve a 7-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• In the Senate (Seanad Eireann), 49 members are elected by indirect vote to serve 5-year terms and 11 members are appointed by the prime minister to serve 5-year terms*. In the House of Representatives (Dail Eireann) 165 members are elected through a single transferable vote (STV) proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.**

* 49 members are elected by indirect vote by, among others, university graduates and locally elected representatives and 11 members are appointed by the prime minister. All members serve 5-year terms.

** One seat is reserved for the Speaker of the House. There are 43 multi-member districts with magnitudes from 3 to 5.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Soldiers of Destiny / Fianna Fáil (FF)
  • Leader: Bertie AHERN
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 78
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 81
• Party: Family of the Irish / Fine Gael (FG)
  • Leader: Enda KENNY
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 51
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 31
• Party: Labour Party (Lab.) / Páirti Lucht Oibre
  • Leader: Pat RABBITTE
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 20
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 21
• Party: We Ourselves / Sinn Fein (SF)
  • Leader: Gerry ADAMS
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 4
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 5
• Party: Green Party (GP) / Comhaontas Glas
  • Leader: Trevor SARGENT
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 6
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 6
• Party: Progressive Democrats (PD) / Dan Pairtí Daonlathach
  • Leader: Michael McDOWELL
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 2
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 8

Last Parliamentary election:

• Elections to the House of Representatives were last held on 17 May 2002.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 4,398,942 (2007)
• Registered Voters: 3,110,914 (2007)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,203,345 (2007)

·         Is Ireland a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Ireland ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (23 December 1985)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 22 (House of Representatives); 12 (Senate) (following the 2007 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 6 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Ireland a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Ireland ratified CRPD: No

·         Population with a disability: 659,841 (est.)