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LequteMan
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The outcome of a referendum on whether to close the upper chamber of the Irish Parliament is unexpectedly in the balance, according to early estimates of voting patterns known as "tallies" that were taken as counting got under way Saturday of ballots that were cast in Friday's poll.
With no official figures or declarations having been made by midday Saturday, Irish state-owned broadcaster RTE News reported that early tallies showed voters in Dublin City had rejected Mr. Kenny's proposal to scrap the senate, while voters in southern and western districts of Ireland may have backed the proposition by a small margin. The turnout appears to have been lower than the 50% vote recorded in previous referendums. Any official result isn't expected until Saturday evening.
According to the Wall Street Journal, opinion polls had suggested that voters by a wide margin would vote Yes in favor of getting rid of the upper chamber but Michael Gallagher, professor of Comparative Politics at Trinity College Dublin, said that the tallies suggested a "tight" outcome.
Abolishing the Parliament's upper house was Irish Prime Minister Mr. Enda Kenny's idea.
He had said that he had long thought the Senate has played no significant part in Irish democracy.
He had argued that shuttering the chamber and laying off its 60 senators would save the country €20 million ($27.2 million) a year, and show that the political classes were sharing the pain of austerity of ordinary people.
Critics had argued that Mr. Kenny's abolition proposal was a dangerous step that removed a check on government power. Fianna Fáil, the largest opposition party, had also criticized Mr. Kenny for not debating his own proposal on national television.
Some politicians had also claimed that the referendum was a distraction coming so soon before Mr. Kenny's coalition government details, on Oct. 15, its austerity budget for 2014, which will mark the seventh year of tax increases and spending cuts.
