The party that has dominated Irish politics for most of the past 80 years, Fianna Fail, is expected to be dealt stinging losses in the first vote of a eurozone member since the European debt crisis.

The election was called more than a year early and it comes a few months after Ireland, only a few years ago among the richest countries in the world, had to accept a $115 billion EU/IMF loan package to save its bankrupt banks. The deal, linked to painful budget cuts, has been seen in Ireland as a national humiliation.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's leadership has been blamed for much of the turmoil in Ireland's economy, which collapsed after a boom decade that saw unemployment virtually vanish, the housing market take off to unprecedented bubble heights and banks lend badly until they burst.

With his Fianna Fail party seeing the worst popularity ratings in its history, Cowen isn't standing for election Friday and in January announced his retirement from politics.

Instead, a host of independent candidates and officials from opposition parties -- the center-right Fine Gail, left-leaning Labor, the Greens and Sinn Fein -- could get a chance at leading the government to tackle Ireland's problems, which are vast.

Unemployment has risen from 4 percent to more than 13 percent, levels not experienced since the 1980s. On top of that, unemployment benefits were cut to stuff budget holes.

The Irish budget deficit towers at 32 percent of gross domestic product, beating even the likes of Greece and Portugal. Many people who bought homes at the height of the boom are stuck with expensive loan payments and properties that are worth much less than their purchase price.

Yet despite all the grimness, the Irish haven't rebelled in public demonstrations like people in Iceland or Greece.

Professor David Farrell, head of the politics and international department at University College of Dublin, says Irish voters are passive because Friday's election works "like a pressure valve, it's going to take a lot of the heat out of the situation for the next couple of weeks."

But what happens after that?

"If the new government doesn't embrace serious reform … they will run the serious risk of a backlash against themselves," Farrell said.

Polls will remain open until 10 p.m., with first results expected Saturday afternoon. A government could be in place as early as March 9.

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