Irish general election, 2002

Irish general election, 2002

← 1997 17 May 2002 2007 →
← outgoing members TDs elected →
165 of 166 seats in Dáil Éireann 84 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	62.6%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Bertie Ahern Michael Noonan Ruairi Quinn Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Party Leader since 19 December 1994 9 February 2001 November 1997 Leader's seat Dublin Central Limerick East Dublin South-East Last election 77 seats, 39.3% 54 seats, 27.9% 17 seats, 12.9% Seats before 73 54 21 Seats won 81 31 20 Seat change 8 23 1 Popular vote 770,748 417,619 200,130 Percentage 41.5% 22.5% 10.8% Swing 2.2% 5.4% 0.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Mary Harney Trevor Sargent Gerry Adams Party Progressive Democrats Green Party Sinn Féin Leader since 12 October 1993 6 October 2001 13 November 1983 Leader's seat Dublin South-West Dublin North N/A Last election 4 seats, 4.7% 2 seats, 2.8% 1 seat, 2.6% Seats before 4 2 1 Seats won 8 6 5 Seat change 4 4 4 Popular vote 73,628 71,470 121,020 Percentage 4.0% 3.8% 6.5% Swing 0.7% 1.0% 3.9%
Percentage of seats gained by each of the five biggest parties, and number of seats gained by smaller parties and independents.
Taoiseach before election Bertie Ahern Fianna Fáil Subsequent Taoiseach Bertie Ahern Fianna Fáil

Bertie Ahern
Fianna Fáil

Bertie Ahern
Fianna Fáil

The Irish general election of 2002 was held on Friday, 17 May 2002 just over three weeks after the dissolution of the 28th Dáil on Thursday 25 April by President Mary McAleese, at the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. The newly elected members of the 29th Dáil assembled on Thursday 6 June 2002.

The general election took place in 42 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 165 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.

The general election was significant for a number of reasons:

The most noticeable feature of the election was the collapse in Fine Gael's vote. It suffered its second worst electoral result ever (after the 1948 general election), with several prominent members failing to get re-elected, including:

The party's losses were especially pronounced in Dublin, where just three TDs (Richard Bruton, Gay Mitchell and Olivia Mitchell) were returned, fewer than Fianna Fáil, Labour, the Progressive Democrats or the Greens. The reasons for the drop in support for Fine Gael are many and varied:

In the immediate aftermath of the election, Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan announced his resignation from the leadership and Enda Kenny was chosen as the new leader in the subsequent election.