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Ireland
The total population of Ireland is 4,784,383 by 1st January 2017. 16,64%of the population is foreign born (Eurostat). The median age is 34,94 which is less than the European average of 40.36 (UN Data).
Political Parties
The most recent parliamentary election was held in October 2017. The prominent parties, vote shares in this election and their orientations are as follows (Parlgov):
|
Party Name |
Vote Share |
Ideological Orientation |
|
Fine Gael (Familiy of the Irish) |
25,52 |
Christian democracy |
|
Fianna Fail |
24,35 |
Conservative |
|
Sinn Fein |
13,85 |
Communist/Socialist |
|
no party affiliation |
11,14 |
no family |
|
Labour Party |
6,61 |
Social democracy |
|
Independent Alliance |
4,21 |
no family |
|
Socialist Party |
3,95 |
Communist/Socialist |
|
Independents 4 Change |
1,47 |
no family |
|
Social Democrats |
3,01 |
Social democracy |
|
Green Party |
2,72 |
Green/Ecologist |
|
Renua Ireland |
2,18 |
Conservative |
Electoral system
Ireland is using single transferable vote which means that a voter cast a vote for their most preferred candidate. All of the votes are counted and a quota, which is the number of votes a candidate needs to win a seat, is derived.
The voter turnout in 2016 was 65,09% (idea.int).
Quality of Democracy
Quality of democracy score by Freedom House is 1 out of 7 where 1 is most free and 7 is least free. According to Transparency International, Austria is ranked 19th least corrupted among 180 countries with a score of 74 out of 100.
Gender Equality
22% of parliamentarians are are women. Ireland has legislated candidate quotas for women candidates. (idea.int)