Mikey wrote:Captain Seafort wrote:I don't know about the Republic, but SF is certainly an issue in NI, given that they're the second biggest party in the province, and McGuinness is Deputy First Minister. Adams seems to have faded away in terms of public awareness in the last few years, which is probably why he's headed south.
Interesting. I wasn't aware of Sinn Fein's continued prominence in politics, and I find it somewhat intriguing - not to mention ironic - that Sinn Fein seems to have outgrown Gerry Adams.
Down here Sinn Fein is seen as a perfectly legitimate political party, though they're obviously still tainted by association with the violence up north for most people. Still, they've always had some small representation in the government, and they're currently the only well-known political party in Ireland to have a Euroskeptic stance, which undoubtedly has earned them more than a few votes.
In any case, the results are in for the most part. Just 16 of the 166 seats left to be filled. Fianna Failure has been left with just 17 seats. Good riddance to the lot of them, I say. The Green Party, who had previously been in a coalition with FF, have been totaly wiped out, with no seats at all. Fine Gael (68) and Labour (35) are the big winners. We'll almost certainly end up with a coalition government of those two. Merkel, Cameron and Barosso have congratulated Enda Kenny (head of FG) by phone, according to RTE News. Sinn Féin also did well this year, more than doubling the amount of seats they held with 13.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
Were you not operating under the teachers' CBA?