DUBLIN: Irish authorities counted the ballots on Saturday after reports of a big turnout, as voters vented their anger over the eurozone nation's widely-loathed international financial bailout. Initial exit polls from Friday's election were due out at 8:00 am (0800 GMT), with voters expected to expel the ruling Fianna Fail party and make Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government the first victim of the eurozone debt crisis.
State media reported predictions of a turnout of around 70 percent of the 3.1 million people eligible to vote as people flocked to the ballot box to show their fury over the collapse of the "Celtic Tiger" economy.
Counting was due to start at 9:00 am and full results are not expected until late Saturday or Sunday. Polling stations closed at 10 pm on Friday.
The leader of the main opposition Fine Gael party, former teacher Enda Kenny, 59, is poised to become the new taoiseach, or prime minister, with a promise to renegotiate the terms of Ireland's massive debts.
Fine Gael has a massive lead in pre-election polls with 38-40 percent compared with Fianna Fail's 15 percent.
But opinion polls suggest Fine Gael will not win a majority in the 166-seat Dail, or lower house of parliament, and may have to form a coalition with Labour, which is on 18 percent support.
In November, Ireland was forced to go cap in hand to the European Union and International Monetary Fund for an 85-billion-euro ($115-billion) bailout after a debt crisis centred on the banks threatened to spiral out of control.
At the centre of problem was a housing bubble.
It was the second eurozone nation after Greece to seek help and the deal was widely viewed as a humiliation, just three years after Ireland was the envy of the world for the strength of its economy.
Kenny, who voted in Mayo in western Ireland with his daughter Aoibhinn, a first-time voter, has promised to "hit the ground running" if he takes office.
He has already visited Brussels and Berlin to discuss amending the bailout terms, notably the "punitive" 5.8 percent interest rate and the cost of restructuring Ireland's banks.
The EU has indicated it might review the deal, but Dublin is under pressure to cut its ultra-low 12.5 percent corporate tax rate in return a rate Kenny says is vital for Ireland's economy.
Polls show 82 percent of voters want the bailout renegotiated but more than half of these accept that it will not be although many cannot see a way out.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail struggled to avoid an electoral wipe out after 14 years in power, as newspapers demanded punishment for the country's woes.
"Your Day of Revenge, Kick them in the Ballots", headlined the Irish Daily Star, while the Irish Sun said: "Downfail. It's time to dump this rotten lot."
Fianna Fail is led by ex-foreign minister Micheal Martin, who took over in January after Cowen quit over his handling of the economic crisis. Cowen is not standing for re election.
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