Irish presidential election: Who is running and what’s at stake?

Voters in Ireland will head to the polls on Friday to elect a new president for a seven-year term.

While the Irish presidency is a mostly ceremonial role, this election takes place amid a historic shift towards a more polarised political system, Barry Colfer, director of research at Dublin’s Institute of International and European Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Since the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922 and the subsequent end of the Irish Civil War in May 1923, Irish politics, unlike in other European countries, have not been drawn along left-right lines, he said. “What we’re seeing today for the first time in Irish history is a presidential election between objectively left-wing and right-wing candidates.”

This change has become more apparent in recent years. In the 20