Irish voters reward Sinn Fein, punish government parties

Irish voters on Friday (23 May) gave a strong signal to the government that they have tired of austerity, reaching out to alternative parties in the local elections and set to do the same for the EU vote.

According to an exit poll by state broadcaster RTE on Saturday morning, the governing centre-right Fine Gael party is set to take 22 percent of the vote, down seven percentage points from the last EU vote in 2009.

Junior coalition partner Labour, seen as abandoning its party prin...