POLLING in the general election is expected to come close to or exceed the 68.5 per cent recorded in 1992, despite bad weather in much of the country yesterday afternoon and evening which deterred some people from going out to cast their vote.
Ballot boxes will be opened at 9 a.m. today for the count in 35 centres throughout the State. Early predictions based on the observation of party tallymen watching the ballots being sorted will be available by mid-morning, while first-count results will be declared from mid-afternoon onwards.
The result should be clear by late tonight, although re-counts in constituencies producing tight results may mean that the final figures for seats won by the parties may not be known until tomorrow.
The 8 a.m. opening of polling stations - an hour earlier than usual - attracted a significant number of commuters who voted on their way to work, and by lunchtime the turnout was reported to be higher than usual in many urban areas. However, rainy weather in much of the State in the afternoon and evening was believed by the parties to have slowed voting in the latter part of the day.
Polling in the west of Ireland was reported to have been particularly high.
Turnout in Dublin was reported by the political parties to have been higher south of the river than on the northside, with a city average of close to 70 per cent.
All the main parties continued to express confidence last night that they would achieve a good result.
Fianna Fail sources said they believed their leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, would be the next Taoiseach, but they were concerned that a poor Progressive Democrats performance could rob the potential Fianna Fail/PD government of an overall majority.
A spokeswoman for the Progressive Democrats said yesterday, however, that the party was confident it would make "a number of significant gains".
Fine Gael sources said they believed they would improve significantly on their present tally of 47 seats.
They fear, however, that Labour losses may be great enough to deprive the Rainbow Coalition of a majority.
A Labour spokesman said his party was "confident of a good result". Party sources concede that a number of seats secured in 1992 will not be won this time, but the spokesman said they expected to win new seats in Kildare South and Tipperary North.
A Democratic Left spokesman said he expected his party would retain its six seats and maintained it could win several additional ones.
Over 2.7 million were eligible to vote yesterday to fill the 166 Dail seats in 41 constituencies.