Premier Calls Early Election for June 6

Prime Minister John Bruton called a national election for June 6, gambling that the “feel-good factor” from a booming economy would trim the opposition’s 10- to 15-point lead in opinion polls. Bruton, whose three-party coalition came to power in late 1994, has until November to call the election but opted to stage it early in the wake of what he called the biggest tax-giveaway budget in the 75 years of the state. Opinion polls show that the ruling coalition’s popularity is fading after revelations that an Irish tycoon paid millions to politicians, including those in Bruton’s Fine Gael party.