Over 62% of respondents in a LaoisToday poll have said that they would like to see a General Election called in the wake of Leo Varadkar’s decision to step down as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.
Mr Varadkar announced his decision to step down yesterday afternoon – with Fine Gael now beginning the process of selecting his replacement.
Over 1,500 people responded in a LaoisToday Instagram poll to the question, ‘Should a General Election be called straight away?’.
Of those who responded to the LaoisToday poll, 62% said ‘Yes’, 21% said ‘No’ and 17% said ‘Don’t Care’.
A General Election has to be held before March of next year and with the Local and European Elections in June, the Government parties are currently in support of the Dáil running its full term.
Most opposition parties – including Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit – have called for a General Election to be held straight away.
This poll isn’t presented as scientific, as not everyone has an Instagram account, the LaoisToday followers weren’t compelled to vote and some of those who did may be under the age of 18.
However, previous polls on political and societal issues carried on our Instagram page have been largely in keeping with the actual outcome of various votes.
We also asked our Instagram audience to rate Mr Varadkar’s time as Taoiseach, and we offered three choices.
Again over 1,500 people responded with 38% saying he was ‘A middling Taoiseach’; 34% saying he was ‘A bad Taoisaeach’ and 28% saying he was ‘A good Taoiseach’.
Fine Gael have opened nominations for the position of leader with Simon Harris already having secured the required number in order to be a candidate. A candidate needs the support of six Fine Gael Parliamentary Party members (be that TDs, Senators or MEPs – in total there are 53) and Harris is already well clear of that.
Helen McEntee and Simon Coveney have already ruled themselves out of contention and it is possible that Harris could be elected without a vote.
If it were to go to a vote, then the Parliamentary Party would have 65% of the vote, the party members have 25% and the councillors would have 10%.
In the last Fine Gael leadership election in 2017, following Enda Kenny’s retirement, Simon Coveney won the support of the party members but Varadkar triumphed among the Parliamentary Party.
