Ireland Votes 2007: The Voting System

The voting system in Ireland is not the same one used in UK General Elections, which is First Past The Post. Ireland uses the Single Transferable Vote system, which is a little complicated for me to explain here, but there is a good guide at RTE's Election 2007 site, which explain it far better than I can.

However, to give you a real life example, in Dublin North, Fianna Fail candidate Michael Kennedy has been elected. Now, there are 4 seats available in Dublin North, and since so far only 1 candidate has been elected, the second preference votes for Michael Kennedy will now be counted and added to the totals for the other candidates, and this will go on until all 4 Dublin North seats are filled.