3 parties in tie in Ireland election: Exit poll

ADDS INFO

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

DUBLIN (AA) - The thee leading parties in Ireland are in a dead heat in the country's election, according to exit poll Saturday.

Survey shows Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gail party with 22.4%, but rivals Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail stand with 22.3% and 22.2%, respectively.

Ireland faces a housing crisis, as the number of homeless has hit 10,000.

Healthcare also faces serious challenges, as patients can wait as long as 17 hours to be examined at hospital emergency rooms.

The Greens and Labour parties follow with 7.9% and 4.6%

The exit poll by Ipsos MRBI for RTE, The Irish Times, TG4 and UCD, indicates all three parties have 22% of first preference votes.

The three main parties could have as low as 20.7% support or as high as 23.3% due to the margin of error.