AnalysisThe make-up of the 30th Dáil is known, and attention has moved not only to who governs next but to where, how and why the parties got or didn't get their votes.
As political scientists and geographers in academic and research institutions pore over the entrails of Election 2007, there are two useful sources of data which can be mined for answers, both of them generated by RTÉ.
First, there is a wealth of information in the summary material generated by the national broadcaster's election results centre and further jewels in the exit poll conducted for RTÉ by Lansdowne Market Research.
There were significant regional variations in both the support achieved by the parties and the strength of the vote swings.
Nationally, the Fianna Fáil vote was almost precisely the same as 2002, which was no mean achievement. In fact, the party's vote edged up by 0.1 per cent.
The swing to Fine Gael was strong, at 4.8 per cent.
Labour nationally was down by just over 0.5 per cent.
Support for Sinn Féin and the Green Party was up nationally but by less than 1 per cent. This rise is explained mainly by the fact that both ran candidates in more constituencies.
Among the smaller parties, the most significant shift was the collapse of the PDs. Nationally, their vote was down just 1.2 per cent but, given their low vote share and limited geographic base, this was catastrophic.
On seats, Fianna Fáil held its own in Connacht-Ulster. Losses in Donegal and Leitrim were offset by gains in Monaghan and Sligo. However, its vote actually fell by 2.8 per cent in Connacht-Ulster as a whole.
Fine Gael's rise in this region was 7.5 per cent, meaning that Fianna Fáil will have to pay particular attention to it in preparations for the next election.
In Dublin, Fine Gael's vote was up 4.3 per cent on 2002, which put it back over its 1997 support level. However, Fianna Fáil's vote in Dublin was also up significantly by 1.6 per cent.
Labour held its own in Dublin, and the vote share for Independents also went up slightly.
Sinn Féin had hoped for vote and seat gains in the capital but it not only lost one seat and came close to losing a second, but its vote share was down from 9 per cent to 7 per cent.
Dublin was a disaster for the PDs, with their vote share down a whopping 3 percentage points from 7.1 per cent to 4.1 per cent. This explains the loss of three of their four Dublin seats.
In the rest of Leinster, Fianna Fáil's vote was up by 1.5 per cent, the Fine Gael rise was 4.5 per cent and, interestingly, Labour's vote was down almost 2 percentage points. The collapse of Tom Parlon's vote and that of Mae Sexton, as well as a fall in their vote in the two Kildare constituencies, meant the PDs were down almost 1.4 per cent.
In Munster, Fianna Fáil's vote was down, albeit by 0.6 per cent, and Fine Gael's vote was up 3.9 per cent.
The demographic breakdown of the preferences expressed by those voters polled for the RTÉ/Lansdowne exit poll is also very revealing. The first conclusion is that gender did not matter in this election. All of the parties get almost the same support among men and women.
Age mattered somewhat, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael got the largest portion of votes in all age groups, including the younger age groups. In fact, the two largest parties between them received the votes of almost 60 per cent of those under 24 and 63 per cent of those between 25 and 34.
As one might expect, Sinn Féin and the Greens got relatively stronger support in these age groups than among older voters but there was no marked improvement in Labour support among younger voters.
Class also mattered in this election, particularly for Fianna Fáil who attracted relatively more support among the lower classes. It got 40 per cent of statistical middle and upper-middle class support but 43 per cent from the statistical working classes. By comparison, Fine Gael got 26 per cent of the middle classes but this dipped to 22 per cent in the working classes.
Where the exit poll is of most value is in the answers it gleaned to questions about the factors which shaped the voters' choice.
Three-quarters said discussion about Bertie Ahern's personal finances or house did not influence their vote, while others said it had only a marginal impact.
Overall, it is clear that the choice between an Ahern-led government and an Enda Kenny-led government determined the election.
Those who gave a preference in answer to the question, "which of the two would voters prefer as Taoiseach", broke down 60:40 for Ahern.
What is most striking is that of those who made up their mind in the last week of the campaign, 55 per cent voted Fianna Fáil and just 18 per cent Fine Gael.
Fianna Fáil won Election 2007 in the last week, and it was the "Bertie factor" that won it.