The counting of votes in the Seanad election begins today.
A total of 149 candidates have put themselves forward for election to contest 49 seats.
The remaining 11 vacancies, to make up the full complement of 60, will be filled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, probably next week.
He is expected to make seven Fianna Fáil nominations and two each for his Government colleagues, the Progressive Democrats and the Green Party.
Today's count, which will be held in Leinster House, will be for the 43 seats to be filled in the various vocational panels.
Counting to fill the six university seats begins tomorrow. The University of Dublin/Trinity College count, where 11 candidates are seeking the three seats, will be held in Trinity College.
The National University of Ireland count, where 24 candidates are seeking the three seats, will be held in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Graduates of other Irish third-level institutions do not have a vote.
Politically, there will be more interest than usual in the Seanad results because there is no guarantee that the Government will secure a majority, despite the traditional Taoiseach's 11 nominations. Members of the Oireachtas and county councillors make up the electorate for the intensely political battle in the vocational panels.
Fianna Fáil's losses in the last local elections have diminished its support base. The political parties will be seeking to elect senators with a good chance of achieving Dáil seats in the next general election.
Some are TDs who lost their seats in the May general election.
Defeated Fianna Fáil TDs seeking seats include Ivor Callely, Martin Brady, John Carty, Donie Cassidy, Denis O'Donovan, Cecilia Keaveney, and Ollie Wilkinson.
Fine Gael candidates include Dr Liam Twomey who lost out in Wexford; Gerard Murphy, defeated in the tightly-contested Cork North West three-seater; and Frances Fitzgerald, a former TD, who failed to make it in Dublin Mid West.
Labour's line-up includes defeated general election candidates Alex White, Brendan Ryan, Dominic Hannigan, Eric Byrne and Phil Prendergast.
With outgoing senator Kathleen O'Meara not seeking re-election, the party is hoping that Tipperary North's Alan Kelly can make it to the Seanad with the aim of a Dáil seat next time.
Senator Michael McCarthy, an unsuccessful Labour election candidate in Cork South West, was nominated by the Irish Council of Trade Unions having failed to secure a party nomination.
The three outgoing senators on the NUI panel, Feargal Quinn, Joe O'Toole and Labour's Brendan Ryan, are seeking re-election.
Former ASTI president Bernadine O'Sullivan, and former TUI president Paddy Healy, as well as Dr John Hillery, son of former president Dr Patrick Hillery, are among the other candidates.
On the University of Dublin panel, the front runner to replace Dr Mary Henry, who is retiring, is Reid professor of criminal law at Trinity College Ivana Bacik.
Another contender could be Seán O'Connor, grandson of Seán Lemass. The other outgoing senators there, Shane Ross and David Norris, are seeking re-election.
