DUBLIN – Pressure mounted in Ireland on Sunday for an election to be held before the planned date of March 11, after Prime Minister Brian Cowen quit as leader of the ruling party but vowed to stay in office.
Four candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to replace Cowen as Fianna Fail leader in a vote Wednesday, but opposition lawmakers condemned the situation as “complete madness” and demanded an immediate election. The Green party, which shares power in Fianna Fail-led coalition government, said it was meeting Sunday to consider the situation following Cowen’s shock resignation on Saturday afternoon.
If the Greens announce they are pulling out, Cowen will have no choice but to call an election. If they stay in, the government must still face a confidence vote in parliament next week tabled by the Labour party. Cowen had been under pressure for months over his handling of the debt crisis that brought Ireland to its knees and forced it to accept an international bailout in November — the second in the eurozone, after Greece.
He survived a leadership challenge by foreign minister Micheal Martin last week, but an attempt to use Martin’s subsequent resignation and five other apparently coordinated cabinet resignations to force a reshuffle backfired. The Green party vetoed any new reappointments and pressured Cowen into announcing the election date of March 11.
Two days later he quit as leader of his party, which he has led since becoming premier in May 2008. Martin is now the frontrunner to take over Fianna Fail, although he will be up against Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, Defence Minister Eamon O Cuiv and Trade Minister Mary Hanafin, who all declared their candidatures Saturday. Cowen said he hoped Fianna Fail could now fight the election “free from internal distractions”.
The centrist party, which has dominated Irish politics for decades, is currently polling at about 14 percent. “Taking everything into account, and having discussed the matter with my family, I have decided on my own counsel to step down as uachtarain (president) of Fianna Fail and leader of Fianna Fail,” Cowen told a hastily-arranged news conference in Dublin Saturday.
