DUBLIN, May 26: Bertie Ahern looked set on Saturday for a record third term as Irish prime minister with the majority of seats decided in the country's cliffhanger general election.With the last votes still being counted, Ahern's centre-right Fianna Fail party looked set to capture 78 seats after receiving 41.6 per cent of first preference votes under the country's complex voting system.

This would leave it five shy of the 83 needed for a majority in the 166-seat Dail (lower house of parliament) and attention in Ireland is now focused on likely coalition partners for Ahern's party.

Many have tipped the Greens for government after Ahern's previous allies, the liberal Progressive Democrats, saw their vote collapse in Thursday's vote.

At 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) Saturday 153 of the parliamentary seats had been filled, leaving 13 to be decided in six of the country's 43 constituencies.

The breakdown by parties was: Fianna Fail 73; Fine Gael 46; Labour 20; Progressive Democrats 1; Green Party 5; Sinn Fein 3 and Independents 5.

Despite a campaign that saw Ahern on the defensive when faced with questions about his personal finances when finance minister in the early 1990s, he has again proved he is a phenomenal vote-winner.

He has presided over unprecedented economic success which has seen Ireland reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger boom and has been hailed internationally for helping to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Ahern described the election outcome as “exceptional,” adding in an interview with RTE radio that his party would “do our utmost” to form a government by June 14.

The Irish Independent newspaper hailed his recovery on Saturday as “astonishing” and “Lazarus-like” after opinion polls during the campaign suggested that Fianna Fail could lose a raft of seats.

Even politicians from the centre-left Fine Gael-Labour opposition alliance seemed to accept that Ahern would extend his 10 years as leader.—AFP