Irish PM Ahern calls May election

Ahern: A booming economy helped him survive a full term

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland -- Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has called a general election for May 17. Thursday's announcement comes after he dissolved parliament late on Wednesday.

Ahern, who heads the Fianna Fail party, has governed a coalition government for the past five years and is widely expected to be returned to power, despite a slowdown in economic growth.

Journalist Mark Hennessy told CNN that health, law and order and the economy should dominate the election campaign.

"The economy has seen recent warnings from some economic institutions, for example the EU, saying that the government has been spending too much to meet costs on infrastructure needs."

Ahern told the 166-seat Dail late on Wednesday that it would be dissolved. The move had been predicted and election posters had already been put up.

Opinion polls consistently predict that Ahern's party will retain its traditional place as the largest in the Dail, leaving Ahern to remain as prime minister -- but probably with too few Fianna Fail politicians to form a government on his own.

Ahern's government survived its full term against the odds.

His majority depended not only on a small party of Fianna Fail defectors, the Progressive Democrats, but on a handful of independent politicians whose districts received extra government money, especially for roads.

Ahern has benefited from a strong economy since 1997 thanks to foreign corporate investment and European Union aid since.

But the "Celtic Tiger" economy has begun to weaken in the past year, with job losses and inflation rising.

Fianna Fail has led most governments since 1922, but the party -- whose name means "Soldiers of Destiny" in Gaelic -- has not commanded a parliamentary majority since 1981.