Irish Election: Fianna Fail favourites to win most seats in Friday's vote

• Get the latest odds for Irish General Election

• Vote takes place on Friday 29 November

• Fianna Fail favourites to win most seats at 5/71.71

• Micheal Martin set for second stint as Taoiseach at 4/61.67

Fianna Fail are the favourites on the Betfair Exchange to win the most seats in Ireland's election on Friday and usher in a second era with their leader Micheal Martin as Taoiseach (prime minister).

Martin was Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and is 1.654/6 favourite on the Exchange to return to the top job after the election.

Who will win the most seats in the Irish election?

Fianna Fail are 1.728/11 to win the most seats. If those odds are correct then they are likely to govern Ireland as the biggest party in a coalition goverment with Fine Gael. That gives them a 58% chance of winning according to the Betfair Predicts graphic.

Fine Gael are currently the biggest party in the Dáil (lower house of the Irish parliament) after they won the most seats at the last election. For four-and-a-half years, they governed in coalition with Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

The current Taoiseach Simon Harris is hoping his centre-right Fine Gael party can defy the odds and win the most seats.

But they are 3.55/2 on the Betfair Exchange and polling published three days before the election indicates that Fine Gael are losing ground at the crucial moment.

In fact, the poll by he Irish Times/Ipsos B&A showed support for Fine Gael falling to 19%. Fianna Fail was up two points to 21%, while opposition party Sinn Fein was up one point to 20%.

Even though Sinn Fein are polling second, however, they are 6.25/1 on the Exchange to win the most seats.

Who will be Ireland's next Taoiseach?

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are seen as the most likely partners in another coalition government, regardless of how Sinn Fein fare on Friday. The two parties of the centre have both pledged to govern without Sinn Fein.

If the Betfair Exchange odds are correct and Fianna Fail take the most seats, Martin is perfectly placed to become the Taoiseach again.

The incumbent, Fine Gael's Simon Harris has had a difficult campaign, making a series of gaffes.

The latest saw him walking away from a care worker who was complaining about conditions. Unfortunately, this was captured on camera and the clip went viral.

Ireland uses proportional represenation as its electoral system, meaning voters put an X against their candidate of choice, ranking them in order of preference.

This can lead to a protracted count so don't expect a quick result. After the count, coalition negotiations are expected to begin.

It has been a busy year for elections, with voters in the UK and US going to the polls in July and November respectively. Donald Trump's recent victory meant that the Betfair Exchange has correctly predicted the outcome of 23 of the last 25 major elections, so the markets are a valuable way of guaging which way the electorate is leaning.

Now read US Politics: Six reflections on Trump's historic election victory