Leo Varadkar was set to be elected Irish prime minister for the second time on Saturday, taking over from Micheál Martin under a novel rotation agreement struck between their two parties — once sworn rivals — in a 2020 coalition deal.
Martin resigned on Saturday ahead of a vote in parliament to elect Varadkar, who was prime minister from 2017 to 2020. Martin will become deputy prime minister until a scheduled 2025 election and is also expected to be appointed foreign minister.
The 2020 coalition deal — which also included the smaller Green Party — for the first time united Martin’s Fianna Fail and Varadkar’s Fine Gael, which are Ireland’s dominant centre-right parties and have led every government since independence a century ago.—Reuters
