Irish voters play safe as Ahern heads for 3rd term

By Paul Hoskins

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was set to clinch a third term on Saturday as counting continued in an election where jitters over the country's thriving economy spurred voters to opt for stability over change.

But a near wipe-out for Ahern's junior coalition partner, the pro-business Progressive Democrats (PDs), means he may have to woo a rival onto his side to secure a parliamentary majority.

"Whatever I try to do my favorite option is to make sure, as I have done twice back to back ... to command a stable government for a five-year term," Ahern told RTE television.

Partial results at midnight (2300 GMT) showed Fianna Fail with 59 of the 106 seats allotted and 41.6 percent of the vote.

The opposition Fine Gael-Labour Party alliance had won 39 seats, while smaller opposition parties such as the Green Party and the Irish Republican Army's political ally, Sinn Fein, failed to make the gains they had expected.

PD leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McDowell quit public life late on Friday after losing his seat in south Dublin despite being credited with coming up with an election slogan that helped restore Ahern's fortunes.

His "Left-wing government? No thanks!" battle cry was widely credited by opposition parties as it became clear Ahern had shrugged off questions over his personal finances and criticism of Ireland's overburdened health system and transport network.

Labour's Pat Rabbitte was the first opposition leader to concede Ahern was on track to extend his 10 uninterrupted years in office, saying fears of an economic "wobble" meant voters had opted not to "change horses in mid-stream".

"The people, I think, having for the first two and a half weeks equated change with progress, ended up in the last week equating change with risk," Rabbitte said.

Niall O Brolchain, the Green Party mayor of Galway city, said "scaremongering" by the PDs had succeeded in persuading people they could not afford to vote for change.

Fine Gael leader and Ahern's would-be successor Enda Kenny declined to concede defeat, however, saying a number of key constituencies remained too close to call.

Ahern, who was also finance minister in the early 1990s, has seen Ireland transformed from one of Europe's most impoverished nations into one of its wealthiest, but a recent slow down in the housing market has triggered some alarming headlines.

In an election campaign where there was little to distinguish the main parties in terms of tax and spending plans, economists say it will make little difference to Ireland's future prosperity who leads the next government.

They also say that while economic growth is likely to slow next year, it is set to remain well above the European average.