Dublin, Nov 30 (AP) An exit poll in Ireland's general election suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government.

A poll released as voting ended at 10 pm (2200GMT) said centre-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21 per cent of voters, with its centre-right coalition partner Fianna Fail at 19.5 per cent. Left-of-centre opposition Sinn Fein was at 21.1 per cent in the poll.

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Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

The figures only give an indication and don't reveal which parties will form the next government. Counting of ballots starts Saturday morning and it will take between several hours and several days for full results to be known.

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Ireland voted in a parliamentary election that will decide the next government — and will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and a cost-of-living pressures. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)