Voters across Ireland cast their ballots in the country’s general election on 29 November. First preference vote shares indicated that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are set to continue their coalition as support for Sinn Féin declines.

Vote counting is underway in Ireland’s national election. An exit poll suggests the contest is a close-fought race among the country’s three largest political parties.

Ireland prepared on Sunday to reshuffle the same big parties into a new government after a general election returned incumbents that have channelled record corporation tax receipts into higher spending.

Ireland is heading for a return of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Simon Harris’s Fine Gael party and Fianna Fail, as voters bucked a recent international trend of ousting incumbent parties.

Ireland is voting in a parliamentary election that will determine the country's next government; voters are selecting more than 170 lawmakers to sit in the Dail.

At one level, the vote was an endorsement of continuity, but the stability in Ireland’s political center ground masked volatility on the fringes.