No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
The voters of the Saorstat Eireann went to the polls on September 15 to elect a new Dail. This was the fourth election under the P.R. system and the second election of the year. Despite the importance of the issues involved and the strenuous efforts of the two larger parties, the total poll was only 35,000 votes greater than in the previous June. But a total poll of 1,180,000 votes is a good record for the Free State, even though on a percentage basis it does not appear large. The present inefficient state of the register makes a percentage comparison somewhat misleading.
To the student of political institutions the election was interesting because of its bearing on several important matters: proportional representation, the development of the party system, political education, and parliamentary government. Not the least of these was proportional representation. There has been much discussion of P.R. in the Free State, and the Cumann na nGaedheal, or government party, made a promise in the election campaign to modify or abolish the system if returned to office. It remains to be seen whether this pledge can be carried out. But in the meantime it is interesting to point out how the system appears to have operated in the most recent election.
Some of the English newspapers undoubtedly exaggerated the evils of the system, the Sunday Express even saying that “one consequence of the election will be the abandonment of an experiment which distorts rather than expresses the opinion of the voters.”
Professor Pollock writes from personal observation of the elections. Man. Ed.
2 If we omit Dublin University, in which the candidates were returned unopposed, the average quota for each one of the 149 contested seats was about 8,000. The government party polled 58 quotas and obtained 61 seats; Fianna Fail polled 52 quotas and secured 57 seats; Labor, 13 quotas and 13 seats; Farmers, 8 quotas and 6 seats; National League, 2 quotas and 2 seats; and the Independents, 13 quotas and 12 seats. The vote polled for each party and the seats secured were as follows:
3 On the count of the first preference votes in 29 constituencies, the seats secured by each party were: Cumann na nGaedheal, 20; Fianna Fail, 12; Independents, 3; Labor, 1; National League, 1; Farmers, 0.
4 The government party had the largest vote in 17 out of the 29 contested constituencies; Fianna Fail had the largest vote in 9 constituencies and the Independents in 3 constituencies.
5 President Cosgrave also stood for Cork City, which seat he also won. Having to make a choice between Kilkenny and Cork, he decided to resign the Kilkenny seat and sit for Cork City. This resignation caused a by-election which was won by Denis J. Gorey, formerly the leader of the Farmers' party but now a member of Cumann na nGaedheal.
6 The central headquarters of the two large parties had much to do with the nomination of candidates, in many cases imposing their choices upon the local constituencies.
Comments
No Comments have been published for this article.