Micheál Martin, seen on June 15 in Dublin, will become Ireland’s next prime minister.
Photo: Niall Carson/Zuma PressIreland’s lawmakers backed a new coalition government on Saturday, nearly five months after an inconclusive election that saw an antiestablishment party grab the largest share of votes cast.
The new coalition will see two previously fierce rivals—Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael—work together with the Green Party as Ireland seeks to contain the novel coronavirus and prepares for new trade barriers with the U.K., a key economic partner.
The coalition marks a realignment of Ireland’s political landscape, bringing it closer to the divide between right- and left-wing parties that are common in the rest of Europe.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have taken turns governing Ireland since its independence from the U.K. in 1922. Despite shared right-of-center views on economic and social issues, the divisions that led to a civil war after independence long fueled a bitter antagonism between them.
“Civil war politics is over,” said Brigid Laffan, a professor of politics at the European University Institute. “What they have in common outweighs their enmity.”
The civil war parties have lost political support following the global financial crisis and its aftermath. In the February election, they received a combined 43.1% of votes cast, down from 68.9% in the 2007 poll that was the last before the crisis.
Voters have instead turned to nonaligned lawmakers with strong local platforms and to a variety of left-of-center parties. In February, Sinn Féin surprised political observers and itself by attracting 24.5% of votes cast, more than either of the two establishment parties.
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“The median Irish voter has shifted to the center-left,” said Aidan Regan, a professor of politics at University College Dublin. “It is the first time we’ve seen that.”
In its modern incarnation, Sinn Féin began as the political voice of the Irish Republican Army, which for the three decades until 1998 waged a violent campaign to withdraw Ireland’s northeastern corner from the U.K.
Rather than enter a coalition with a party that they have deep misgivings about, the two establishment parties decided to work together. The Green Party brings needed votes in parliament and a number of policies designed to slow climate change, an area in which Ireland has been a European laggard.
In addition to steering the country through the pandemic’s economic fallout and the next stage of Brexit, the government will have to address long-festering problems that turned many voters against the establishment parties in February, foremost of which is a shortage of affordable housing in Dublin and other urban centers.
The coalition between the two parties has also brought a novel way of sharing power as the job of prime minister will be rotated. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will be prime minister until the end of 2022, when he will hand over to Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar, who was also his predecessor.
Mr. Varadkar led Ireland’s response to the coronavirus, seeing a significant boost to his approval ratings after a weak performance in the February election. As well as working to avoid a second wave while reopening the economy, the new government will have to prepare for big changes in the economic relationship between the U.K. and the EU in 2021.
Mr. Martin is one of Irish politics great survivors. A lawmaker representing the southern county of Cork since 1989, he was a member of the Fianna Fáil government that led Ireland into one of the most severe economic collapses to take place during the global financial crisis. He has delivered only a modest boost to his party’s support in two elections as its leader. But no Fianna Fáil leader has failed to become Ireland’s prime minister and he now extends that record.
Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com
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