Winner Ahern challenges Sinn Fein

Ahern promised stable government after his convincing poll victory

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland -- Re-elected Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has thrown down the gauntlet to Sinn Fein, who also made gains in the country's general election.

Ahern, still not sure of an overall majority but certain of forming a government, after a storming 70-plus seat win, called on the Republican party to get its military allies, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to disarm.

"Sinn Fein will have to go the rest of the way," Ahern said on Sky television.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams pledged on Sunday to end "anaemic opposition" in the republic after his party increased its representation from one to five seats. The party's haul included the south-western constituency of North Kerry, won by convicted IRA gunrunner Martin Ferris. (Full story)

"Our day has arrived," Adams said after an election that cast a shadow over EU expansion plans though which in the end caused few complications for the Northern Ireland peace process.

RESULTS SO FAR Fianna Fail (73) 77  Fine Gael (54) 30  Labour (21) 19  Green Party (2) 6  Sinn Fein (1) 5  PDs (4) 4  Others (11) 14    MORE STORIES Ex-gunrunner becomes Irish MP    EXTRA INFORMATION Key facts about Irish election

"Sinn Fein is now a major political force for change in this state," Adams said.

The IRA, which fought a bloody 30-year-long battle to end British rule in Northern Ireland, has put portions of its vast arsenal "beyond use," in the Northern Ireland peace process but still has huge caches of arms in reserve.

"There cannot be ambiguity. You cannot have a position where you've some kind of allegiance and loyalty understanding with a paramilitary army," Ahern said.

The winning of five seats by Sinn Fein, which sits in government in the British province of Northern Ireland and holds seats in the UK parliament, gives it a significant voice in the southern Irish parliament, the Dail, for the first time.

Counting of paper ballots continued on Sunday to decide a handful of contests outstanding from Friday's vote.

But the outlines of the victory for Fianna Fail, and the solid gains for Sinn Fein and the environmental Green Party, which got six seats, were clear.

By Sunday evening with 10 seats still to declare, Fianna Fail had 77, just six short of an overall majority in parliament which would negate the need for forming a coalition with a junior partner -- at present the Progressive Democrats.

Analysts said Friday's election to the 166-seat parliament left Ahern's party in line for 80 to 82 seats, a tantalising few seats short of an outright majority

Meanwhile the main opposition and second runner Fine Gael had 30, a huge loss that forced its leader to resign.

Adams, who campaigned but was not a candidate, predicted change, with Sinn Fein, the Green Party and other small or mid-sized parties working together.

He said the outcome was a mandate for "an alternative vision" for those who feel left out by Ireland's booming "Celtic Tiger" economy, the fastest growing in the European Union.

The gains by Sinn Fein and the Greens had implications for the EU since both strongly oppose the Nice Treaty on EU enlargement.

Irish voters rejected the treaty in a referendum last June, but the government intends to hold another referendum and hopes to overcome concerns the treaty would infringe on Ireland's tradition of military neutrality with a declaration agreed by EU members.

But a recent opinion poll showed opposition to the treaty in Ireland growing and the election makes its future even more doubtful.

The election changed the landscape of Irish politics, with the main opposition Fine Gael suffering a virtual meltdown, forcing out its leader, Michael Noonan. Some well known figures in Irish politics, including Fine Gael's Nora Owen and Labour's Dick Spring, a former foreign minister, lost their seats.

"It looks like there will be a stable government led by Ahern and that the lines of policy on Northern Ireland will remain what they were rather than shifting in a a more radically 'green' direction," Paul Bew, a professor of Irish politics at Queen's University, Belfast, told Reuters.

"The balances that are necessary to preserve the agreement have not been signficantly challenged by this election."