electionstracker

Ireland 2002 general election

What was the result of the 2002 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 81 of 166 seats with 41.5% of the vote. 62.6% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Ireland
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Fianna Fáil won 81 of 166 seats with 41.5% of the vote; 62.6% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.3 points on 1997.

  • Fianna Fáil 81 +4 seats 41.5% +2.1 points
  • Fine Gael 31 −23 seats 22.5% −5.5 points
  • Labour Party 21 +4 seats 10.8% +0.4 points
  • Sinn Féin 5 +4 seats 6.5% +4.0 points
  • Progressive Democrats 8 +4 seats 4.0% −0.7 points
  • Green Party 6 +4 seats 3.9% +1.1 points
  • Socialist Party 1 0 seats 0.8% +0.1 points
  • Independent -- Marian Harkin 1 0.5%
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Ireland 1997 general election, party by party.

84 of 166 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 41.5%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 81 of 166 seats. A majority needs 84.

  2. +4 seats

    Seats gained by Fianna Fáil

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1997. Fine Gael lost 23 seats.

  3. 62.6%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.3 points on 1997.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil81+441.5+2.1770,748
Fine Gael31−2322.5−5.5417,619
Labour Party21+410.8+0.4200,130
Sinn Féin5+46.5+4.0121,020
Progressive Democrats8+44.0−0.773,628
Green Party6+43.9+1.171,470
Socialist Party100.8+0.114,896
Independent -- Marian Harkin10.58,610
Largest party without seats00.34,741
Independents12+6

± is the change against the Ireland 1997 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 770,748
  • Fine Gael 417,619
  • Labour Party 200,130
  • Sinn Féin 121,020
  • Progressive Democrats 73,628
  • Green Party 71,470
  • Socialist Party 14,896
  • Independent -- Marian Harkin 8,610
  • Largest party without seats 4,741
  • Independents

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

62.6% of the 3,002,173 registered voters cast a ballot (1,878,609 ballots), down 3.3 points on 1997. 1,857,902 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1948.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil41.5% of votes48.8% of seats
  • Fine Gael22.5% of votes18.7% of seats
  • Labour Party10.8% of votes12.7% of seats
  • Progressive Democrats4.0% of votes4.8% of seats
  • Green Party3.9% of votes3.6% of seats
  • Sinn Féin6.5% of votes3.0% of seats
  • Socialist Party0.8% of votes0.6% of seats
  • Independent -- Marian Harkin0.5% of votes0.6% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 8.3 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 4.1 by votes and 3.3 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 19.0 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of