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Four candidates launched a battle Sunday to lead Ireland's governing party after troubled Prime Minister Brian Cowen quit the party post following a series of crises that forced him to announce snap polls. Micheal Martin, the foreign minister whose departure crippled Cowen's authority, is the odds-on favorite to win the contest and take the Fianna Fall party into a general election, which polls predict they will lose heavily. He is up against Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, Defense Minister Eamon O'Cuiv and Trade Minister Mary Hanafin, all of whom wasted no time in declaring their candidacy before today's deadline. The party's lawmakers will elect their new leader Wednesday. Cowen stepped down Saturday as leader of the ruling Fianna Fail party after a week of political turmoil, but he vowed to stay on as prime minister to focus on getting key budget legislation passed to cement an EU-IMF bailout and help revive Ireland's battered economy. The Irish Government was plunged into further chaos Sunday as the junior coalition Green Party said it was pulling out of Cowen's coalition government, in a move likely to spark elections sooner than those planned for March 11. However, the Greens said they would support a finance bill considered vital to securing the EU-IMF bailout. AFP |
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