Irish general election, 1973
The elections to Dáil Éireann in 1973 took place on 28 February 1973. Determined were the members of the 20th Dáil.
The 144 parliamentarians gathered for the first time on 14 March 1973, the term of office lasted 1569 days.
Time of the election in 1973, Fianna Fáil was already 16 years of uninterrupted power in Ireland. In these 16 years, the party had 3 Leader: Eamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and F. currently Jack Lynch. Many voters now believed it was time for a change of government. Lynch wanted to go to meet this movement, hoping in December 1972 elections, but this shifted on February 1973.
After Fine Gael and the Labour Party had each made their own opposition politics since 1957, they realized now that the only way to replace Fianna Fáil in government, may be a common approach. Shortly after the announcement of the elections, both parties agreed to a joint election campaign in the points that they united. The so-called " National Coalition " ( National Coalition) was the first possible alternative government for years.
Although Fianna Fáil was able to increase the primary vote, but the party lost seats. The growth of the primary vote was amazing, the party for 16 years but now was in power, and also because of the so-called weapons crisis in 1970.