Irish Prime Minister Announces Date of Early Elections in November

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris plans to hold early general elections on 29 November. He said this in an interview with RTÉ.

The Irish prime minister explained that he had so far refrained from initiating the dissolution of parliament so that it could adopt amendments to the 2025 budget. This happened the day before, on 5 November.

‘I intend to seek a motion to dissolve the parliament on Friday (8 November), and I hope to have a vote on 29 November,’ Harris announced.

In Ireland, the parliament is officially dissolved by the president, who is an independent figure from politicians. The Prime Minister announced a meeting with him on Friday.

Back in October, it became clear that elections would be held in November or early December, as the Prime Minister said he wanted to hold them this year rather than wait until the end of his term in March.

Harris, 38, is seeking to preserve the 14-year tenure of his FNM party, which he took over in April this year after the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

According to the current scenario, Fine Gael and its main rival Fianna Fáil, led by Deputy Prime Minister Mihály Martin, who have been part of the coalition since 2020, will win. The main opposition party, the left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein, which advocates the reunification of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is in third place.