DUBLIN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Ireland holds an early general election on Friday, the country's first national vote since its financial bailout in late November last year.
On Feb. 1, the Dail Eireann, or the lower house of Ireland's national parliament, was dissolved, and President Mary McAleese called the general election at the request of outgoing Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
The dissolution of parliament occurred more than a year before Cowen's term in office is due to expire. The incumbent Fianna Fail (Republican Party) is expected to suffer a crushing defeat in the election.
Following are the basic facts about the general election:
Ireland uses the proportional representation in its general election, which must be held at least every five years by law. Legislators are elected in multimember districts instead of single-member districts, and the number of seats a party wins in an election is proportional to the amount of its support among voters.
The Dail Eireann has a total of 166 members, who are called deputies or TDs. They are directly elected across the country's 43 constituencies. Each constituency has three, four or five seats.
Irish and British citizens, aged 18 and above, who are resident in the Republic of Ireland, may vote. A deputy can be a member of a government party, an opposition party, or can sit as an independent.
To stand for election to Dail Eireann, a person must be at least 21 years of age and must be an Irish citizen.
The main parliamentary function of deputies is to enact legislation. The constitution also provides that the government shall be accountable to Dail Eireann and various mechanisms are used to discharge this function.
In this year's general election, 566 candidates confirmed their run for Dail Eireann seats, up from 470 in 2007.
According to official statistics, the number of electors now stands at 3.1 million. The major parties taking part in the election are Fianna Fail, Fine Gael (United Ireland Party), Labor Party, Green Party and Sinn Fein.
