Ireland votes amid austerity anger, fears of hung parliament
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Ireland's voters are deciding who should lead them for the next five years as polls suggest the outcome could be a hung parliament.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny asked voters to keep his 5-year-old coalition government in power, arguing he deserved another term because of Ireland's improving employment market and return to Europe-leading growth.
All polls throughout the three-week campaign forecast that Kenny's Fine Gael party should retain its No. 1 spot. But his coalition partners, Labour, face savage losses to opposition candidates critical of the government's painful but broadly successful austerity program.
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Analysts say the outcome from Friday's vote could challenge Fine Gael to form an unprecedented partnership with its decades-old nemesis, Fianna Fail, another centrist party that is expected to finish second. Both parties have ruled out partnership.