Irish PM seeks allies to secure stable 3rd term

DUBLIN, May 27 (Reuters) Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said today he aimed to form a credible, enduring government after he won Thursday's general election but fell short of an outright majority.

''We have a number of options and we're confident that we will set up a government for the next five years,'' Ahern said after two days of vote counting ended in the early hours of today with his Fianna Fail party comfortably topping the poll.

Despite big gains for the main opposition Fine Gael party and pre-vote predictions Ahern faced major losses, his 41.6 percent share of the vote matched that of the 2002 election.

With 78 seats in the 166-seat Dail (lower house) Fianna Fail is only two down on where it stood ahead of the vote but Ahern now needs new allies after a collapse in support for his junior coalition partner the pro-business Progressive Democrats.

''Top of my agenda is to make sure, as I have done for the last decade, that we set up a credible government that will have longevity and give stability,'' he told Sky television.

Ahern pointed out that the Progressive Democrats (PDs) still had two parliamentary seats versus eight before and that there were a number of independents ''fairly close'' to his party.

''The Greens, that is another consideration and probably less likely ... is the Labour Party,'' Ahern added.

Left-leaning Labour fought the election on a joint ticket with Fine Gael to try and oust Ahern and its members may not be able to stomach a move to facilitate Ahern's return to office.

''POLE POSITION'' The Green Party, which did not align itself to any grouping ahead of the vote, says it is ready for government but will expect the implementation of some of its environmental and planning policies before entering a coalition.

Securing a deal with a bigger party such as Labour or the Greens would require Ahern to make more policy concessions and hand over more senior ministerial posts, however.

''We want to create a government that is able to implement our policies ... and to continue on doing the kind of work that has been successful to the Irish economy now for the last 10 years,'' Ahern said.

Ireland's newspapers predicted today that Ahern would therefore try to do a deal with the two remaining PDs and with independents, two of whom are former members of his party.

A third independent lawmaker unaffiliated to Fianna Fail said his door was open for talks and sought to dispel the notion that a government propped up by independents is an unstable one.

''If I do a deal, my word is my bond,'' he told the Sunday Tribune. ''If I agree a programme for government, I can take the heat.'' Fine Gael leader and would-be prime minister Enda Kenny said ''distinct possibilities'' remained for an alternative government but while mathematically possible it would require more than four parties to come together under one roof.

Bookmaker Paddy Power's Web site was no longer even offering bets on a government led by Kenny and made an alliance between Ahern's Fianna Fail and its current PD partners 10-11 favourite.

Unlike Kenny, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte accepted it was over for the opposition, saying Ahern was in ''pole position''.

The final make-up of the government is unlikely to be clear for some days as parties talk with their own members before approaching each other. Such manoeuvring is common in a country where no one party has had an outright majority for 30 years.

REUTERS SG MIR KP2000