An election is (almost) upon us - what happens now?

The Taoiseach says he 'hopes' the forthcoming General Election will be held on 29 November.

At that point, the country will elect a new set of representatives to the Dáil, the most powerful part of the Oireachtas, the Irish national parliament.

For new voters, newly-interested observers of the voting process, or anyone unsure of the process, here is an overview of how it all works.

Now that the Taoiseach has revealed a clear date - if you are not already seeing it - you can expect to see a flood of campaign activity related to the election soon. This is voters’ chance to shape the future, so knowing what is happening is key.

What is a General Election?

A general election is how we choose members of Dáil Éireann, the most powerful part of the Oireachtas. Elected members of the Dáil are called TDs, which stands for Teachta Dála.

During the campaign, TDs who are already members and seeking re-election, and hopeful TDs, take to the streets and the airwaves in a bid to convince voters to give them their support.

Expect to see candidates and their teams knocking on doors and handing out leaflets as they aim to drive home their key campaign messages.

Another big part of election campaigning in Ireland is the use of posters, which you will see a lot ahead of the vote. Candidates use them in an effort to increase name and face recognition.

It is not just the candidates and their parties who are gearing up for election season. The media will also be ramping up their reporting and coverage.

For political journalists and broadcasters, the campaign is almost like a World Cup or the Olympics. Newspapers, radio stations, TV programmes, and websites will all be increasingly focused on the campaign in the lead-up to election day.

This will include televised debates where party leaders will speak to the nation, argue about their policies, and highlight the key points from their election manifestos.

Trust us, if you watch, listen to, or read any type of news, you will have heard plenty about the election by the time it’s over.

What to expect

There will be no shortage of topics discussed throughout the campaign, and there are often plenty of surprises, but issues like health, housing, the cost of living, and immigration are likely to dominate this time.

Parties and candidates tend to release their election manifestos in the early stages of the campaigns and those manifestos will give a clearer picture of how they propose tackling key issues if elected.

They provide a sense of what each party or candidate is offering, and may help you choose the one that suits you best.

Polling day

The final day of the election is polling day, when people cast their vote.

Polling stations are generally set up in primary schools and community centres, and votes cast from 7am to 10pm.

Ireland uses a voting process called Proportional Representation Single Transferable Vote (PR-STV). It sounds complicated, but in short it means each voter is given a ballot paper and asked to rank the candidates in order of preference.

The candidate the voter most wants to see elected should be given a '1' beside their name and picture, and that indicates that candidate has received the ‘first preference vote.’

The voter’s second favourite candidate gets a ‘2’, and that process continues until the voter decides they no longer want to give any remaining candidate any preferences.

The election process is based on counting and sorting those votes and the expressed preferences.

In previous elections, political campaign coverage stopped on radio and television during the hours of voting, and from 2pm the day before.

That was called ‘the moratorium,’ and was a legal requirement on broadcasters. Some newspapers and online outlets also chose to abide by it.

It meant TV and radio stations were barred from broadcasting any story or information which could potentially influence the outcome of the vote.

For this election though, the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has replaced the moratorium with an "additional care requirement".

This means there will be no timeline restrictions on what broadcasters can report in the hours before an election - other than ensuring information is accurate.

Broadcasters will also be required to show additional care during what has been described as the "critical election period."

Which means any election-related information that could mislead or confuse voters, or was intended to do so, should be handled with "extreme care" by broadcasters.

Once the voting concludes at 10pm, the ballot boxes are moved to specific centres, under lock and key, until it is time to start counting the votes.

In previous elections there has been exit poll released immediately after the voting ends. That is based on data compiled by a company from voters leaving stations across the country.

The voters are typically asked if they wish to fill in an unofficial electronic duplicate version of the ballot paper by the company, and the responses are totaled and released at some point after the voting ends, which can give an very early and broad indication of how voters approached the election.

Counting

Unlike other countries that have moved to electronic voting, Ireland still relies on voters to fill out paper ballots, which are then sorted and counted manually.

Counting begins on the morning after polling day. All across the country, teams start sorting and counting votes in public view.

Often while they do their work, count teams are observed by people conducting tallies.

So-called tallymen and tallywomen try to get an early and unofficial sense of how the election is likely to conclude at a constituency level. They observe which candidates are getting what proportion of the first preference votes as the counters lay out the ballots for sorting on tables.

The tallies are not results, but they are often discussed during the early media coverage of the election count.

It usually takes a few hours of counting before the first TD of the new Dáil is confirmed elected. Some seats can even take days to fill, and require multiple recounts.

Changes to the process

The election count concludes when the final seat is filled. At that point there will be a conclusive picture of which candidates have been elected, and what parties and political perspectives they represent.

No one yet knows who will be sitting in that new Dáil but we do know it will be the biggest Dáil in the history of the State.

At the last general election in 2020, 160 TDs were elected in 39 constituencies. After a review by the Electoral Commission in 2023, 14 extra seats were added and constituencies were changed, meaning 174 TDs will be elected from 43 constituencies this time around.

The changes were in response to a growing population and to try to ensure fair representation.

The number of TDs elected from each constituency will vary between three and five, depending on the population size in each area.

Government formation

As the outcome of the election becomes clear, the business of forming a government will begin.

A government usually needs to be able to rely on more than half – the majority – of the TDs in the Dáil to be able to pass its policies using legislation.

No single party has won more than half of the seats in a Dáil for more than forty years, as a result most governments have been coalitions between two or more parties.

To form a governing coalition, parties - sometimes with independent TDs - negotiate deals on the priorities and policies they will focus on during their time in government.

Those deals are usually put into a document called the programme for government and agreed by parties involved which typically will collectively have enough seats to form a Dáil majority.

The parties and TDs that are not part of the Government make up ‘the opposition.’

After the 2020 election, it took nearly four months of coalition discussions to form the most recent government. As soon as a governing coalition is formed, a taoiseach can be elected by a vote in the Dáil.

Given the increase in the number of TDs set to be elected in the next Dáil, the votes of at least 88 TDs will be needed to secure a majority, and elect a taoiseach.

When that vote is completed, the President formally appoints the Taoiseach, who officially chooses the Tánaiste and government ministers.

Who can vote?

If you’re 18, an Irish or British citizen, and registered to vote, you can vote in the general election.

As it stands, Irish citizens temporarily living abroad can only vote if they are in the country on election day.

Exceptions are made in certain circumstances to allow for postal voting, such as for members of the Irish Defence Forces stationed abroad, diplomats and their spouses posted abroad, and voters with physical illnesses or disabilities.

There is a history of very small margins deciding seats, meaning each vote can be crucial in shaping the political future of our country.