The Labour Party:The Labour Party is heading into this campaign hoping that a clearly laid-out strategy will bring the dividend of a place in government after the general election, writes Miriam Donohoe,Political Staff.
It was a battered and wounded Labour that emerged from the 2002 election, having failed to pick up any extra seats. It had entered that campaign under Ruairí Quinn and optimistic of making gains, but the party lost votes and not one of its 21 returned TDs was a first-time deputy. The party's poor showing was blamed on its failure to rule out going into coalition with Fianna Fáil, but questions were also raised immediately about Quinn's leadership qualities. In August 2002, he announced his intention not to seek re-election as leader, and Pat Rabbitte emerged as his successor. The former Democratic Left TD had already established himself as an able Dáil performer, a good speaker and a quick thinker, but his main challenge when he became leader was to banish the memory of 2002 and devise a strategy that would bring the party back into power without it looking as if that had to be achieved at all costs. In other words, Rabbitte had to resist the temptation of having an each-way bet on the outcome of the 2007 election and being seen as "soft" on Fianna Fáil. In the lead-up to the 2004 local elections, he and Enda Kenny agreed a vote transfer pact that paid dividends, with Labour winning its largest-ever number of council seats, and emerging as the largest party in Dublin and Galway city councils. The next step in the Rabbitte plan was to get the backing of the party to adopt a formal coalition agreement with Fine Gael leading into this election. It proved a straightforward exercise, with 80 per cent of Labour members voting in favour. That strong support for the Rabbitte strategy was followed last year by what has become known as the Mullingar accord, with the Fine Gael and Labour leaders meeting in the Co Westmeath town to agree a joint platform for the next general election and pledging to work together to build an alternative government. The concern among some Labour supporters that the party's identity would be lost as it moved closer to Fine Gael has been allayed somewhat with the publication of a range of party proposals since January last, setting out commitments for change, action plans for reform and a 10-point plan for Labour's first 100 days in government. But it hasn't all been plain sailing for Pat Rabbitte. His task since taking over Labour has been to inspire more people to support his and the party's political philosophy, but the fact remains that polls show support levels for Labour have remained stubbornly similar to those that applied in the days of Quinn. The Labour leader has also spent much of the early months of this year dealing uncomfortably with the "what if" scenario, the possibility that the only two parties that will have the numbers to form a government after the election will be themselves and Fianna Fáil. For now, the party's focus is on trying to increase its number of seats from 21. Labour contested 40 of the 43 electoral constituencies in 2002, with Limerick West, Mayo and Donegal North East not represented. This time around, it has at least one candidate in every constituency, and, in total, 50 candidates. Three sitting Labour TDs won't be fighting the election - Sean Ryan in Dublin North, former ceann comhairle Seamus Pattison in Carlow-Kilkenny and Joe Sherlock in Cork East - but the party believes all its other incumbents will be returned and has earmarked around six seats it thinks it could pick up. The challenge for Labour is to translate Rabbitte's increasing popularity into votes. Private research shows he is popular, something reflected in the recent RTÉ programmes by US pollster Frank Luntz. "People seem to have time for him and trust him. We have to cash in on this," a source said.
The plan is to put Rabbitte out front and centre of the campaign.
NO OF SEATS IN OUTGOING DÁIL: 21
NATIONAL SHARE OF VOTE 2002: 10.77%