Ireland To Go To Polls In General Election On Feb. 8

Ireland will go to the polls for general election on Feb. 8, the prime minister told his cabinet Tuesday morning.

Leo Varadkar is expected to initiate the parliament dissolution in the afternoon as the election campaigns have already got underway.

Irish premier spoke to the Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin after the cabinet meeting, informing the main opposition head of his intention to seek the dissolution of the Dail (Irish parliament), the Irish Times reported.

The Fine Gael party under previous leader and former Prime Minister Enda Kenny won 50 of 158 seats in the 2016 election, losing 26 seats. Fienna Fail increased its seats to 44 from previously held 20, while Sinn Fein won 23 seats.

Varadkar replaced Kenny as the party leader in 2017 and served since as the prime minister of the minority government his party led. -