This year's general election was "a fierce head-to-head confrontation between two opposing teams which looked for most of the campaign to be evenly matched", according to Michael Gallagher and Michael Marsh, joint editors of How Ireland Voted 2007: The Full Story of Ireland's General Election, launched in Dublin last night.
The editors, both of whom are professors at Trinity College Dublin, draw a contrast between this year's election and the previous poll in 2002 which, they say, "amounted almost to a walkover for the incumbent government in the face of a dispirited and disunited opposition".
They point out that, not only was the outcome in doubt until the end, but the campaign had a life of its own: "In 2002 Fianna Fáil devised and was able to impose a trajectory for the campaign that was characterised by spin, agenda-setting and successful media manipulation. In 2007 the media was determined not to be so pliant again and, besides, events derailed any plan that Fianna Fáil's head office might have had."
Published by Palgrave Macmillan, this is the sixth book in the "How Ireland Voted" series, with chapters by leading political scientists and contributions from election candidates themselves.
Launching the book, Minister for the Environment John Gormley said it was "to be recommended as Christmas reading for political buffs." Green Party Senator Dan Boyle called it "the most valuable of the series".