How many votes do you need to get elected in the Irish government?

Answer 1

There is not a single number for that. It is a bit more complicated. Before anyone can be part of the government they must be elected to Dáil Éireann, which is the name for Ireland's parliament. There are 166 members of the Irish parliament There are currently 43 constituencies. Getting elected in each consituency is not exactly the same. Constituencies have either 3, 4 or 5 seats. In each individual election a quota is set based on the number of seats and the number of people who have voted in the constituency. There is also a system of proportional representation and a single transferrable voting system. A person can vote for more than one candidate, in order of their preference. So each constituency can require a different amount of votes for someone to be elected to Dáil Éireann.

Before anyone can be part of the government they must be elected to Dáil Éireann. A head of government, known as the Taoiseach, must then be elected by the 166 members. Usually the leader of the biggest party will get that job, but to form a government they need to get a majority, so at least 84 votes. Quite often it requires more than one party to support a Taoiseach, as no individual part will have 84 or more elected members. Before the vote parties will have negotiated to ensure they can get the votes. Once a Taoiseach is elected, ministers can be chosen from the parties who are now in government. Who becomes a minister is the choice of the Taoiseach and the leader of a coalition partner, if there is a coalition.