Leo Vardarkar's Reign Is Sketchy
As Enda Kenny steps down as Taoiseach today he leaves a minority government with just the support of 58 TDs out of 158. The polls have not shown much comfort to the Fine Gael party. They remain below 30% in most polls since last years General Election, much the same as their nearest rival party Fianna Fail. Vardarkar finds himself in the position that he takes over from Enda Kenny without an Election. This is a reminder to the public that the new Taoiseach is not only in a minority government but also not the candidate that the Fine Gael party put forward as Taoiseach.
Leo has already rattled many people outside his party in relation to his views on Social Welfare. It will be interesting to see if these bully boy tactics will work with the rest of the voting population.
He should be reminded that in the UK following May's defeat that many in opposition were pointing out the fact that she was not elected Prime Minister but had taken over the position following the resignation of Cameron. Unlike Cameron Kenny is not resigning following a defeat a referendum, rather it is his party that has continually pointed out that while he was the first Fine Geal Taoiseach to be re-elected he did it following a disastrous defeat at the General Election last year.
For Leo this means not only is he not the elected Taoiseach but also he is the leader of a party that just barely held on to power, unlike May's minority government which requires just 10 seats, he is now leading a government that requires 23 seats to gain a majority, his own party will need 30 seat to rule alone.
For both main parties a General Election is not wanted, neither could expect any of the smaller parties to enter government with them, even Labour which remains around the 5% mark will not enter government or prop up another FG/FF government.
The new Taoiseach will have a hard time recruiting a even more dissatisfied voters.
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