Ireland's main opposition Sinn Fein looked on course to win the most votes at a general election by the narrowest of margins on Friday, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it,

Counting will start across the Republic of Ireland at 09:00 local time [PA Media] Counting is to get under way later on Saturday morning in the Irish general election, as exit polls suggest a close contest between the three major parties.

The exit poll put the left wing Sinn Fein on 21.1%, the centre-right Fine Gael of Prime Minister Simon Harris on 21.0% and like-minded coalition partner Fianna Fail on 19.5%. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail pledged ahead of the election to seek to form a coalition without Sinn Fein,