People are still voting for Fianna Fail, in numbers

I.S.T. · 26-11-2010 03:17PM #1

What is wrong with people in this country, look at this chart from the RTE News site. Fianna Fail have come second ahead of FG and Lab in the Donegal by-election. Have people learnt nothing at all???

scientific1982 · 26-11-2010 03:18PM

Too many old people voting and not enough young people.

DarkJager · 26-11-2010 03:19PM

scientific1982 wrote: »

Too many old people voting and not enough young people.

Thats true. Stupid old people at that. Not to worry anyway, a few more years and most of them will be gone. Then FF will never get a vote again.

keano_afc · 26-11-2010 03:27PM

I think its a fairly bad indictment of what people think about the standard of opposition too. Fine Gael/Labour should be romping home.

Mark200 · 26-11-2010 03:29PM

Fine Gael should be embarrassed that they haven't been able to make a better political gain recently.

As well as that, it is Donegal....

General Zod · 26-11-2010 03:30PM

actually, Donegal is a heartland of FF voting, for them only to pull 21% of the vote could be translated to 15% nationwide.

It's going to be very very interesting in the GE.

who what when · 26-11-2010 03:31PM

Sinn Fein first place.
Fianna Fail Second place.
The donegal electorate should hang their heads in shame!

Snakeblood · 26-11-2010 03:31PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPFffN5JF4

Kimono-Girl · 26-11-2010 03:31PM

keano_afc wrote: »

I think its a fairly bad indictment of what people think about the standard of opposition too. Fine Gael/Labour should be romping home.

+1

i think its more to do with who we have in opposition to Fianna Fail then voting for them because they want to!

lesser of evils and all that,

what Ireland needs imo is a new proper political rival party to come up because FG and Labour just will not be voted for by this country,thus leaving FF to clean up as evidenced by the poll above!

Pace2008 · 26-11-2010 03:31PM

I can only assume (and hope) that SF's popularity would dwindle dramatically the further south you go.

Sinn Féin and Fianna Fail. Sweet holy ****.

TeddyTedson · 26-11-2010 03:32PM

Donegal is a big republican part of the country.
But even still, this is surprising. Fianna Fail is full of creeps.

JoseJones · 26-11-2010 03:32PM

People usually vote for who they see doing things in the local community, maybe the FF politicians in Donegal are very good! Or maybe they are just stupid and old :pac:.

dlofnep · 26-11-2010 03:32PM

Fair play to Pearse Doherty! Absolute legend and the only competent candidate that was in the race at all. (Although yer man Pringle wasn't too bad either). McBrearty never knew when to shut up, that Fine Gael lad was as forgetful as a rainy day, and the Fianna Fáil guy clearly didn't have a hope being attached to his party.

bladespin · 26-11-2010 03:33PM

55%(ish) turnout, what do you imaginr the turnout for the next general election will be like?

Also, is it any wonder the people there are politically disenfranchised? Surely sitting in the wilderness has led them to believe it won't matter much either way.

General Zod · 26-11-2010 03:34PM

Pace2008 wrote: »

I can only assume (and hope) that SF's popularity would dwindle dramatically the further south you go.

Sinn Féin and Fianna Fail. Sweet holy ****.

Have you even considered it's possible that the Sinn Fein vote is down to the peoples confidence in the ability of the candidate to do the job of representing them?

Donegal is a FF stronghold, and the way it's going with The Drink Driving Doctor pulling out of the North East it's going to be hard for FF to get a seat in any of the wards.

Mits · 26-11-2010 03:37PM

For some people it is habit and loyalty for other they don't see a credible alternative.

hinault · 26-11-2010 03:38PM

General Zod wrote: »

actually, Donegal is a heartland of FF voting, for them only to pull 21% of the vote could be translated to 15% nationwide.

It's going to be very very interesting in the GE.

I heard FF vote was down by over 50% in that constituency since 2007.

That constituency is loyal FF territory.

Hopefully this implosion will be mirrored across entire country in the GE.

baldbear · 26-11-2010 03:42PM

Well it's not that surprising. Donegal has always been a FF strong hold and there support has dropped by 30% which is quite big. FG's failure is bad news for Kenny.

At the end of the day Irish voters are eejits, Cowen will top the poll in Offaly.

humberklog · 26-11-2010 03:49PM

Ah... Donegal's a bit weird.

tonycascarino · 26-11-2010 03:54PM

20% is not a good result at all for Fianna Fáil in Donegal.

seamus · 26-11-2010 03:55PM

SF were already insanely strong in Donegal.

It's more important to look at first preference votes:

FF have taken a hammering - a 29% drop in confidence in Donegal.

There are a couple of factors working in Pearse Doherty's favour:
1. He got the by-election called
2. He's Sinn Féin
3. He is the only candidate returning for election from 2007. Nobody else on the ballot stood in 2007.

Interesting that FG took a fall in this one. Clearly SF and Lab are the two favoured parties at this stage.

If you work out the changes and apply them to the current Dail, the share of seating in the next Dail looks like this:

Party|Seats|%
FF|33|19.73
FG|41|24.58
SF|7|4.51
Lab|73|44.10
G|0|0
Ind|12|7.28

Probably a decent bit off - Labour are probably too high and FG too low.

But interesting times ahead...

Gunsfortoys · 26-11-2010 03:56PM

I cannot believe the opposition failed to garner any sort of support on this. They aren't exactly coming out with any credible alternatives either. SF seem to be out in force.

PrincessLola · 26-11-2010 03:57PM

Sinn fein and fianna fail are the two worst possible parties imaginable. Seriously, what is wrong with Donegal?

dlofnep · 26-11-2010 04:01PM

PrincessLola wrote: »

Sinn fein and fianna fail are the two worst possible parties imaginable. Seriously, what is wrong with Donegal?

Donegal has sense, and elected a candidate that was articulate, knew his politics and wasn't a pompous arsehole.

Luxie · 26-11-2010 04:09PM

bladespin wrote: »

55%(ish) turnout, what do you imaginr the turnout for the next general election will be like?

Also, is it any wonder the people there are politically disenfranchised? Surely sitting in the wilderness has led them to believe it won't matter much either way.

I don't know if this is indicative really, I would guess a lot of people didn't bother as it will be recontested in the GE soon enough anyway.

PrincessLola · 26-11-2010 04:11PM

dlofnep wrote: »

Donegal has sense, and elected a candidate that was articulate, knew his politics and wasn't a pompous arsehole.

No, they vote for candidates because 'ah, sure he's a good man and he goes to mass'
Also, the young people are too busy betting p*ssed to bother voting, so the old stupid people vote them in.

K-9 · 26-11-2010 04:12PM

The 2 traditional parties only took 40% of the vote. That is a sea change in Donegal politics.

Dempsey · 26-11-2010 04:13PM

dlofnep wrote: »

Donegal has sense, and elected a candidate that was articulate, knew his politics and wasn't a pompous arsehole.

But the new fad is to just vote FG/Labour to get rid of FF/Greens no matter who the idiot is....

L.T.P. · 26-11-2010 04:16PM

Well done Pearse Doherty!

But 21% of the electorate in Donegal South West should hang their heads in absolute shame.

Yakult · 26-11-2010 04:17PM

Tbh, I dont have fate in any of the other parties along with FF. They all smell of b/s.

Most people will still vote for Fianna Fail(ure) because its like our default government. These are the people, who reguardless of the situation will just vote for them as they have for many years
I wont ever vote for them nor will I give them the the time when they come knocking at my door.

After all of this, Im definally going into Politics down the line.

UsernameInUse · 26-11-2010 04:19PM

People are wholy misinformed about Sinn Fein.

They are the only party with enough balls and gut at this stage to actually do something about the mess Fianna Fail have left us with. FG and Labour coward away when SF voted for a motion of no confidence in this asshole Cowen.

This SF party and its candidates are a country mile ahead of Irish politics.
Look up north! These aren't the kind of people to demand a limo in between airport terminals...they'd get a kick in the arse by their colleagues if they didnt wear their raincoat!

Give Sinn Fein a chance at least. Read about them, their policies and their goals and dont dismiss them automatically because of what happened many moons ago. These are different people with different ideals.

Plus, they are the only party who have an alternative and will NOT enforce Fianna Fails 4-year plan.

People are still voting for Fianna Fail, in numbers

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