Indecisive result predicted as Ireland goes to polls

Dublin (dpa) - The general election got under way Friday in Ireland with the prospect of an indecisive result and a hung parliament.Forming a coalition with opposition Fianna Fail, which is expected to emerge with 20 per cent of the vote, may be the only option left open to the ruling Fine Gael party to form a viable government.Outgoing Prime Minister Enda Kenny appealed to voters to "deliver a decisive vote for certainty, for stability," in the final debate held on RTE television Wednesday night.Kenny and Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton took part in their final photo call outside a cafe in Dublin Thursday before a broadcast moratorium came into effect.Both appealed for a return of the current government and Enda Kenny reiterated that he "had no intention of doing a deal with Micheal Martin" whose Fianna Fail party had "wrecked this economy."Polls were suggesting that the government had failed to sell its message "of keeping the recovery going" with support for centre-right Fine Gael remaining at 30 per cent by the end of campaign.Labour is at just 7 per cent, meaning that the governing parties will fall well short of the number needed for a majority.Polling stations opened at 7 am (0700 GMT) and are to close at 10 pm in 40 constituencies across the country. Voters in outlying islands cast their votes on Thursday to ensure the ballot papers could all reach the mainland for the count, which starts Saturday at 9 am.Over 3.1 million people are eligible to elect 157 members to the 32nd Dail, or lower house of parliament.Under Ireland‘s electoral system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote, counts can take a long time, and final official results may not be available until late Saturday.However, early unofficial tallies carried out by the parties, which tend to be very precise, will be available within a few hours of the count starting Saturday morning and a clear picture of the trends should emerge by Saturday afternoon.