According to exit polls, the Irish general election is expected to be a close race between the three major parties, and counting is scheduled to begin later Saturday morning.

According to data from Friday's exit poll, Sinn Féin has a tiny lead over Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in terms of first preference votes.

Following a reorganisation of constituencies, 174 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) are expected to be elected, a record amount compared to 160 in 2020.

There will be three to five TDs elected in each of the 43 Dáil constituencies, up from 39 in 2020.

88 TDs are needed for an overall majority because the Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) holds one seat in the Dáil.

More than 680 candidates competed for the remaining 173 seats.

The counting of votes at more than 40 centres across the Republic starts at 09:00 local time, with the first results expected later in the afternoon.

What did Friday's exit poll say?

The figures, published at 22:00 local time, indicated that Sinn Féin has 21.1% of first preference votes, with Fine Gael having 21% and Fianna Fáil sitting in third with 19.5% of first preference votes.

It also suggested that 20% of the second preference votes goes to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with Sinn Féin at 17%.

The exit poll was carried out by Ipsos B&A for RTÉ, The Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin and was based on 5,018 completed interviews outside polling stations.

It has a margin of error of 1.4%.

The results also suggest a close battle between the smaller parties with less than 2% separating Labour, the Green Party and Social Democrats.

In the 2020 Irish general election, Sinn Féin secured 24.53% first preference votes, while Fianna Fáil obtained 22.18% and Fine Gael got 20.86%.

Support for independent candidates appears to have dropped, if the exit poll figures reflect the final result, from 15% in 2020 to 12%.

Some other figures from Friday's exit poll showed the gender divide between the different political parties and what parties voters gave their second preferences to.

How the votes will be counted

The Republic of Ireland elects its government using a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote.

Voters will have the opportunity to rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference, marking their favourite with a number one, a number two beside their next choice and so on.

Candidates will have to reach a certain number of votes in order to be elected.

Counting the ballots takes place in multiple rounds.

Each ballot is initially credited to the first choice.

Once a candidate receives the number of votes required, they are elected and any remaining ballots that are marked with them as first choice are transferred to the second ranked preferences.

Ballots continue to be transferred to the next usable preference until all of the seats in the constituency are filled with candidates who have reached the quota.

When will the results be known?

Due to the voting system, counting can sometimes last multiple days, and forming a government can take even longer.

It took four months after the last general election in 2020 before Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party, reached a deal to form a government.

Sinn Féin became the leading opposition party, and both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have both already ruled them out as a potential coalition partner.

The first meeting of the new Dáil (lower house of parliament) is on 18 December but it is unlikely coalition negotiations will have finished by then.

A government will be officially formed when the Dáil passes a vote to install a new Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), but this isn't expected to take place before 2025.