The leader of Ireland's opposition Social Democrats party has given birth to a baby girl on the day of voting in the country's general election, the party says.
Holly Cairns, 35, who is standing for re-election in the Cork South-West constituency, posted a picture of herself with her baby on Instagram on saying "She's here."
The party is the fourth most popular with the support of 6 per cent of voters, according to a poll published on Monday by the Irish Times/Ipsos B&A.
Cairns remained leader during her pregnancy but deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan represented her at a number of pre-election events including a televised debate.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Holly Cairns TD (@holly_cairns_td)
"Women have babies ... and we have to support them if we want more women to run," party colleague Jennifer Whitmore told reporters on Wednesday.
Ireland is voting on Friday in a parliamentary election that will decide the next government - and will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and cost-of-living pressures.
Polls opened at 7am and Ireland's 3.8 million voters are selecting 174 lawmakers to sit in the Dail, the lower house of parliament.
The outgoing government was led by the two parties who have dominated Irish politics for the past century: Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
They have similar conservative-leaning policies but are longtime rivals with origins on opposing sides of Ireland's 1920s civil war.
After the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat they formed a coalition, agreeing to share cabinet posts and take turns as taoiseach, or prime minister.
Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris says voters have "got a long few days ahead of us". (AP PHOTO)
Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin served as prime minister for the first half of the term and was replaced by Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar in December 2022.
Varadkar unexpectedly stepped down in March, passing the job to current Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Opposition party Sinn Fein achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its progressive policies and historical ties with militant group the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Opinion polls suggest voters' support is split into five roughly even chunks- for Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, several smaller parties and an assortment of independents.
Polls close Friday at 10pm, when an exit poll will give the first hints about the result.
Counting ballots begins on Saturday morning and full results could take several days, and forming a government days or weeks after that.
Harris, who cast his vote in Delgany, south of Dublin, said Irish voters and politicians have "got a long few days ahead of us".
"Isn't it the beauty and the complexity of our system that when the clock strikes 10 o'clock tonight, there'll be an exit poll but that won't even tell us the outcome of the election," he said.
with AP